Week 19/2026

Neither the Tibetan name for Mount Everest, Chomolungma, nor the Nepali name, Sagarmatha, is widely known. In the twenties, the professional explorer George Mallory traveled around Europe lecturing about his adventures to raise money for a new expedition to Mount Everest. At every event, a member of the public would ask, “Why climb Mount Everest?” His usual response was: “We hope to show that the spirit that built the British Empire is not yet dead,” coupled with the name of the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club and Royal Geographical Society. British explorations were always framed as contributions to the Empire. But on one rainy night, he gave a different answer — one that has resonated ever since. He simply said, “Because it’s there.”

This week’s selection consists of three films that hold Mallory’s answer up to the light.

First World War veteran and mountaineer John Noel was selected to document Andrew Irvine and George Mallory’s ascent. The Epic of Everest is now the last testimony of Irvine and Mallory, who died on the mountain, together with two Sherpas who remain unnamed. Today, Mount Everest is littered with gas bottles and haunted by lost climbers who chose the summit as their goal because it’s still there – and it’s big business.  

About twenty years before descending to the floor of the Pacific Ocean, ten kilometers down in the Deepsea Challenger, James Cameron directed The Abyss. Like many of his films, the production costs were challenging and included many technical innovations. Cameron has stated: “Filmmaking is war. A great battle between business and aesthetics.”

Le voyage de documentation de Madame Anita Conti is a collection of photographs and footage shot by the first French female oceanographer, Anita Conti. In 1952, she embarked for six months on a trawler with sixty fishermen to document the sea and the life on board. At a time when notions of ecology and sustainable development were not yet widely discussed, Conti drew attention to the dangers of overfishing. The fish she observes are there, but will not be there for long. She states: “The ocean cannot meet our hopes if we continue to plunder it in a savage way.”