Sunday December 20th 2015, Movie Night: K2 and the Invisible Footmen. A documentary directed by Iara Lee (2015). With English subtitles. In collaboration with Cultures of Resistance. Door opens at 8pm, event starts at 9pm.
Located on the border between Pakistan and China, K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth. For many climbers, it is an even greater prize than Everest, with limited routes, a steeper ascent, and a harder push to its summit. Nicknamed the ‘Savage Mountain,’ K2’s peak juts unprotected into the atmosphere, regularly exposing climbers and porters to life-threatening weather conditions.
Despite being paid at rates far below those received by international expedition leaders, such porters—whether they provide critical supplies to expedition base camps or take on higher-altitude tasks in support of ascending climbers—do some of the most difficult and dangerous work and these efforts make them worthy of recognition as the true heroes of mountaineering.
In K2 AND THE INVISIBLE FOOTMEN, filmmaker Iara Lee and team chronicle the lives of both Pakistani porters and Nepalese sherpas. The film also follows the first official all-Pakistani climbing team, made up of former porters, who successfully summited in 2014, in celebration of K2 60th anniversary. Amid breathtaking scenery, the film depicts the everyday sacrifices of porters and the courage of those indigenous climbers who choose to return to scale K2 in spite of past tragedies. In their striving to perfect their craft, these mountaineers provide a fresh look into the cultures and national traditions of Pakistan, a country typically portrayed in the foreign media as merely a land of conflict and sectarian strife.
Iara Lee, a Brazilian of Korean descent, is an activist, filmmaker, and director of the Cultures of Resistance Network. In 2010, she released a feature-length documentary entitled CULTURES OF RESISTANCE, which explores how creative action contributes to conflict prevention and resolution. As an extension of her commitment to the issues explored in the film, she also founded the Cultures of Resistance Network, an organization that promotes global solidarity, supports efforts to secure peace and social justice, and brings together artists and change-makers from around the world.
Iara has also continued to produce and direct documentary films. She recently released two full-length documentaries that are currently screening at film festivals around the world: K2 AND THE INVISIBLE FOOTMEN, shot in stunning northern Pakistan, highlights the everyday sacrifices of the indigenous porters who make possible the ascent of Pakistan’s tallest mountain. LIFE IS WAITING: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara, looks at forty years of Moroccan occupation and the Sahrawi nonviolent struggle for self-determination by a people for whom colonialism has never ended. In 2013, Iara made a short film entitled THE KALASHA AND THE CRESCENT, which chronicles how an indigenous movement in northern Pakistan is responding to the challenges facing their culture. In 2012, she released a documentary called THE SUFFERING GRASSES: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, which examines the Syrian conflict through the humanity of the civilians who have been killed, abused, and displaced to the squalor of refugee camps.
Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net
Sunday October 4th 2015, West Sahara movie night. “Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara” directed by Iara Lee (2015, 59 minutes, English subtitles). Following the info and movie night about West Sahara that took place on July 26th, we are very pleased to screen the documentary from Iara Lee. In collaboration with 
