Jennifer Peedom’s debut narrative feature, Tenzing, following a long and storied career in documentary, picks up exactly where much of her previous work left off: The mountains. And in particular, the greatest mountain of all, Mount Everest.
This new Apple Studios film, which is set to land on Apple TV October 16 2026 — following a limited theatrical window beginning October 9 — follows the true story of New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary (brought to the screen by Tom Hiddleston) and Nepalese-Indian sherpa with dreams as big as Everest itself, Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), as they achieve the impossible and become the first two people to summit Everest in 1953.
From the BAFTA Award-nominated Sherpa (2015) to 2017’s Mountain to 2008’s Miracle on Everest, the natural world and especially the Himalayan mountains have long been a subject of great intrigue for the Australian filmmaker, and when asked what keeps her coming back, this is what she had to say:
“For me, I guess the answer is: It’s the community, it’s the culture; the more immersed you get, the more connections you make, the friendships that you make, the stories emerge. There’s just always been stories emerging for me… the stories keep drawing me back, and I wasn’t quite finished yet.”
But with Tenzing now on the precipice of being released to the world, Peedom feels that her time in The Himalayas might finally be coming to end.
“I feel like this film is full circle for me on Everest. I’ve now completed the trilogy of films on Everest that I wanted to make… the Himalayas will always be very close to my heart and I have relationships there that will be lifelong and enduring, but as a storyteller, I’m ready for new challenges,” Peedom told us.
It’s clear that the film represents a natural progression for Peedom, whose time as a documentarian acted as a perfect layup for a slam dunk narrative transition. Not just for her understanding of the subject matter in which Tenzing focuses on, but also for how to lead a project. Peedom touched on which transferable skills she took from her time as a documentarian into this new challenge.
“You gain all these skills as a documentarian: Powers of observation, you know how to read people, you have to manage people in very different ways, and those skills translate beautifully to working with actors and managing big teams”.
But at the same time, Peedom found that there were certain skills and habits that needed to be un-learned.
“One of the things I really had to do was learn to be patient, because when you’re dealing with real people and real-life situations, you can’t ask people to stop and do something again… often in a scene my temptation would be to go: Great, we’ve got it, let’s move on, but learning to slow down and go: Actually, we’ve come all this way, we’ve spent all this money, let’s do another take or let’s explore another version of that… it was about giving myself permission to take a breath," Peedom explained.
Tenzing is a huge movie. It’s shot on location in Nepal, with no corners cut and no liberties taken, and every moment of that can be felt. The passion and grit is present in every frame; the sweeping landscape of Everest makes for a real cinematic spectacle, and the gruelling toll of shooting in such freezing conditions makes for performances that are worth seeing on the big screen.
One of those performers is Thinley Lhamo, who portrays Tenzing's wife, Dawa Norgay, in the film. 50% had the chance to sit down with the actor, too. Here's what she had to say on her experience of watching the film with a crowd:
"At the end of the movie, you can feel the heaviness in the room. I cried... it was a beautiful feeling."
Peedom similarly shares the sentiment on the value of catching Tenzing, if you can, during its theatrical window.
“It’s a totally different experience… the reactions are bigger, the emotions are bigger… there’s gonna be some limited IMAX screens, so if anyone is lucky enough to see it in that environment I would highly recommend it.”
Peedom clearly has the eye and the ‘knack’ for dramatic filmmaking. Tenzing is a big, emotional celebration of a culture and a part of the world and one specific individual whose story should be told to many. She told us that she’s “keen” to stay in the world of dramatic filmmaking, and we certainly hope she does — whether as a continuation of her work in the mountains and the natural world or not.
Tenzing will premiere in select cinemas on October 9 and on Apple TV on October 16.
