Multi-international, award-winning film. Score by Paul Jarman and John Crick. Woodend Première Screening: Introduction and Q&A by its Director, Michael Dillon.
Deep in the wild Southern Ocean, halfway between Australia and South Africa, a snowy volcano, almost three thousand meters high, rears up from the sea like a great white whale.
Five times that great white whale of a mountain tried to kill the first team that tried to reach its summit. Yet back they sailed, through the worst seas in the world to try again.
This is the extraordinary tale of those first attempts to climb Big Ben, the smoking glacier ringed volcano on Heard Island, Australia’s loneliest, most remote outpost, told by those who were there. One expeditioner, John Crick, sings the story too, as befits the epic saga that it was.
The beautifully shot original footage, the brilliant music score, the quirky humour of the expeditioners, the utter boldness of the quest, adds spice to one of the least known yet most audacious Australian adventure tales of the 20th century.
Michael Dillon AM, the Producer and Director, is this year’s Australian Geographic Lifetime of Adventure Awardee. He was also recently awarded the Grand Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the International Alliance of Mountain Film Festivals.
