Through the eyes of a team of five trekkers and a local African guide, we will learn of their hardships and rewards of climbing this great mountain and explore the mountain’s delicate ecosystems and natural history along the way. Travel from a lush green rainforest in a tropical jungle, upward through a dense blanket of clouds to an enchanting forest of giant plants. Cross over barren desert plains and wind-sheared rock toward brilliant snowfields and glaciers atop gaping volcanic craters. Finally reach the cold, icy summit, where the team celebrates the most challenging event of their lives.
The trekkers represent a mix of gender, race and life experiences, ranging in age from 12 to 64. Their diversity exemplifies the broad appeal of Kilimanjaro that lures people from around the globe to this phenomenal mountain. Click here to see the trek team in action.
"IMAX films are known for their size, and after seeing "Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa," which opens today, it's hard to imagine another format that is up to the task of conveying the sheer size of the largest free-standing mountain in the world.
This is one big mountain -- 19,340 feet tall. Rising from a rolling plain in Tanzania, Kilimanjaro (Swahili for "shining mountain," presumably for its snowy summit, a rarity at the equator) isn't just tall, it's wide and deep. Its two peaks stand seven miles apart, and it contains in its hills and valleys five distinct climate zones and ecosystems. The film's narrator describes a climb to its top as a journey from the Amazon to Antarctica.
The 38-minute film follows the progress of a carefully selected group of hikers as they make the five-day trek to the peak.
The hikers are an odd lot, coming from all over the world, and ranging in age from 12 to 64. A charming young African boy adds a local perspective, while the oldest, a Englishwoman named Audrey Salkeld, has long written about mountaineering. Only one member of the group is a scientist, and his scientific observations are minimal. Another member is a 23-year-old Danish model, who adds to the beauty of the film, but little else.
The hikers are mostly there as stand-ins for the audience, but their observations, as heart-felt as they may be, sound a bit staged and do not reveal very much about themselves or the mountain.
More interesting is their Tanzanian guide, Jacob Kyungai, 50, whose astute and poetic observations are the result of his having lived below the mountain his entire life, not to mention having climbed it 250 times.
This very simple structure gives the film a bit of a story line, although compared to director David Breashears' previous IMAX mountain movie, "Everest," which was filmed as the ill-fated hikers of "Into Thin Air" were dying nearby, "Kilimanjaro" is blessedly uneventful. The drama is limited to a slightly sprained knee and some good-natured yearning for a bath.
The real drama is in the spectacular vistas caught by Breashears, though one gets the sense that anyone with a camcorder -- one that uses enormous film, of course -- could just point it in any direction and get breathtaking shots. This mountain is gorgeous, as are its details captured along the way to the summit.
As they make their way, the trekkers climb through rain forests, moorlands, Alpine deserts, high-altitude forests of Martian-looking trees, and high glacial areas that look like something out of Salvador Dali's imagination.
There are time-lapsed shots of plants opening and closing with the movements of the sun, and a puzzling stop at a pile of elephant bones, where guide-narrator Kyungai muses on why an animal would make such an arduous climb to such an inhospitable place.
Other segments include a tangential aerial tour of the Great Rift Valley that shows why East Africa would be a must-see destination even if it wasn't home to a single animal.
The film is, of course, subject to IMAX's usual hyperbole. The music in particular is relentlessly "majestic," and becomes grating in its "tribal" pretensions -- think "Survivor" theme music through an enormous sound system -- as though John Williams were conducting an orchestra of African singers and percussionists playing programmed synthesizers.
This is one case in which a picture is worth a thousand notes.
But while the film is sonically overdressed, and the narration by the hikers can become irritatingly awestruck, this film does what IMAX films at their best can do: It takes us someplace most of us are quite unlikely to be able, or even want, to go. And by its end, one has seen and explored a place that was heretofore only the stuff of vague notions. This is armchair travel at its most visually spectacular."
- David Barton
Leasing information
For more information on this film, please contact Charlotte Lazenberry at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
by phone at (713) 639-4725,
by fax at (713) 523-4125,
by email at clazenberry@hmns.org,
or by mail at:
HMNS Film Distribution,
One Hermann Circle Drive,
Houston, Texas, 77030.
# Of Leases: 52
Gross Box Office: $11,179,013
Formats Available: 15/70; 8/70
Language Version Available: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese
For more information on any of these films or to request a complimentary Viewing Copy (DVD format) and Press Kit please contact Charlotte Brohi, VP, IMAX Operations & Production at cbrohi@hmns.org or by phone at 713-639-4725
Film Facts
- Year of Release:
- Running Time:
- Producer & Director:
- Writer:
- Original Music:
- Narrator & Trek Leader:
- Other Credits:
- Behind-the-Scenes:
- Film Highlight:
- 2002
- 37:40 minutes
- David Breashears
- Mose Richards
- Alan Williams
- Jacob Kyungai
- Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa is a David Breashears Film, produced by Kilimanjaro Inc. in collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science; Museum of Science, Boston; and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.
- What it took to film on Africa's highest mountain:
- 9 Crew Members
- 135 Porters and camera porters
- 7 in the Trekking group
- 500 lbs in film weight
- 1200 lbs in equipment weight
- 7200 lbs in overall weight carried
- It took 11 days of climbing and 120 porters to film. Normally a four or five-day climb, the extra trekking time allowed for a slow acclimation to decreasing oxygen levels during the ascent.
- Audiences from around the world share the emotion of the moment when the climbers fulfill their dream of doing something so extraordinary. The movie inspires you to achieve your dreams…whatever they might be.
"The premise of filmmaker David Breashears' Big Movie about Mount Kilimanjaro makes a deliberate challenge to the audience's knowledge of the fabled mountain. Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro, countless adventurers' tales, African myths and dreamy post card images have made Kilimanjaro a household name - a sort of geological celebrity. But what do we really know about celebrities life? Getting beneath the clouds shrouding Mt. Kilimanjaro is a lot like following that sort of MTV celebrity who gives a behind the scenes look at the rockstar life with a warning that - "You think you know, but you have no idea. . ." KILIMANJARO: To The Roof of Africa is a film dedicated to telling us what we do not know. It follows the classic educational Large Format film mission: it informs, it is geared toward the field trip crowd, it is beautiful and it employs a fairly routine style of documentary storytelling. It is an enjoyable film, there are many wonderful images and because it was made with them in mind, kids will like it.
An assemblage of varied climbers team up for an ascent of Kilimanjaro - cameras document their individual discoveries, impressions, revelations and interests as they head toward the summit. There is cool and philosophical Jacob the Tanzanian guide and Kilimanjaro veteran. Youngsters Hansi and Nicole show wide eyed intelligence and determination as they make the tough, but not grueling climb. Young at heart writer Audrey and geologist Roger bring an experience seasoned by more than a few years on the planet. Artsy Danish model/painter Heidi carries good sense along with her good looks. These are multinational, bright and shiny faces ready for adventure. Some people sprinkle bread crumbs on the trail as they go - director Breashears drops factoids as the film follows the climbers through Kilimanjaro's five distinct climate zones. The walk/climb through tropical rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert, and thick glacier ice yields up lovely images entirely appropriate for the Giant Screen. This Big Movie leaves no doubt that Mount Kilimanjaro is a truly amazing place.
The film does not attempt to captivate by way of adrenaline or threat of peril. KILIMANJARO was consciously conceived as something apart from an EVEREST style quest for the summit. We are supposed to get to know the mountain as we get to know the varied company of talented climbers: five fresh points of introspection meant to help us see and sense the real Kilimanjaro. The standard nature/science Large Format film tags along behind a single dedicated scientist and offers a few moments of personality as he/she follows their scientific bliss. KILIMANJARO steps out of this somewhat rusty mold in featuring an ensemble cast of trekkers - but there is far too little time for any of the climbers to create a real sense of charisma or interesting personal point of view. Each team member gives an on-camera testimonial about their impressions of the journey - sore knees, thoughts of home, expressions of wonder and funny asides. . .These video insert interviews are only mildly interesting - soundbites meant to humanize the rather deliberate pace of the film. This is not SURVIVOR, there is no social interplay, intrigue or nonsense going on among this group - they are simply a bunch of carefully chosen, happy campers heading up the mountain.
The film's reality is structured on a climb from bottom to top - but there is no victorious flag planting upon summiting Kilimanjaro. The lessons are supposed to be more internal - the journey is the thing. There is little doubt that each of the featured climbers comes away touched and exhilarated by the end of the climb. But the journey is less immersive for the audience - the sensation is one of being taught and not one of discovery. There is a moment in the film where the climbers come across the high-up bones of an elephant and a leopard. It is a moment of mystery - why or how these animals clambered up here is not known. This admission of not knowing in a film that knows so much is a particularly refreshing moment - Kilimanjaro refuses to give away all its secrets."
- Herb Lash
"Classic migrational herd shots and a warm Tanzanian narrator rally our attentions to a snow-capped volcano at the equator, the highest peak of Africa, the highest freestanding mountain in the world.
We are introduced to a small group of tourists set on making the climb to the peak: the geologist, the older writer, the Scandinavian tourist, the twelve-year-old American girl and a local boy. All ready to brave the 45-mile hike, 19k feet into the sky, through rocks, snow, and air thinner than thin air. Our narrator is their caring guide.
The filmmakers follow this chatty group, with small screen interviews inserted over the big screen vistas. We hear their personal comments, then a moment later the video is hemmed in - it's a warm editing touch. However, at times the climbers speak a bit stiffly, and on an occasion or two, the video insertion obscures the climbing action of the big picture. As the group nears the peak, they become less certain, less full of confidence and oxygen.
An odd detour (in aerial footage) of the rift valley is the only inclusion to break this linear trek.
After stumbling across elephant bones our narrator wonders, "What were these animals looking for? Why did they climb so high onto this mountain?" It's the first time my curiosity is peaked. Additionally, majestic glacier shots grace the screen, but lack an answer to earlier longings of the young Tanzanian to see snow. (That said, you'll get a chuckle out of his subsequent "bath" longings.)
Heavy on narrative, and short on big screen visuals and audios, "Kilimanjaro" makes a better TV documentary than Large Format experience. Additionally, some sort of visual introduction to Kilimanjaro by way of general description of African terrain, with a zeroing in on Tanzania, giving the viewer a feel for where the mountain is located with respect to the continent and perhaps some history would have helped. Such an intro would also have provided a better placement for the rift valley sequence."
- Ross Anthony