The new Apple TV+ film Tenzing has had its Kathmandu premiere — a fitting homecoming for a story about the Sherpa climber who, alongside Edmund Hillary, made the first ascent of Everest in 1953. The British Embassy hosted the screening at CFX Civil Mall, though local audiences will have to wait until next year for a commercial run in Nepal. The film gets a one-week theatrical release in the United States before heading to Apple TV+.

Directed by Jennifer Peedom and based on Ed Douglas's book, the biopic traces Tenzing Norgay from a yak-herding childhood in Tibet's Kharta Valley, through his family's crossing of the Nangpa La into Nepal, to his years in Darjeeling chasing work on expeditions. A near-miss with a Swiss team in 1951 sets up the 1953 British expedition under John Hunt, played by Willem Dafoe, with Tom Hiddleston as Hillary. Tenzing is portrayed at three ages by Samdrup Dorje Lama, Tenzin Dalha and Genden Phuntsok, with Thinley Lhamo (of Shambala) as his first wife Dawa and Caitríona Balfe as Himalayan Club figure Jill Henderson.

Location nerds get plenty to chew on. The Darjeeling scenes were shot in Bandipur, the British Embassy in Lainchaur appears as itself, and the high-mountain action was filmed in New Zealand's Southern Alps — the Malte Brun Pass and Hochstetter Icefall stand in for Everest Base Camp and the Hillary Step, with Makalu and Lhotse spliced into the terrain. One childhood scene, a young Tenzing meeting George Mallory in 1921, is admitted poetic licence.

What makes the film stand out is its point of view. Rather than the usual imperial 'conquest' framing, it tells the ascent from a native perspective, contrasting the British expedition's military-style tactics with Tenzing's reverence for Chomolungma as a mother goddess. There's sharp irony too: Sherpas on strike at the South Col worry that if the mountain is climbed, their work will dry up.

The premiere landed on a heavy note. Nepal's mountaineering community has had a brutal 2026 — the deaths of Nims Purja and five other Nepalis on Broad Peak in July, a catastrophic flood in the Trisuli Valley, and an avalanche at Himlung Base Camp that buried 14 climbers. Against that backdrop, the film's closing sentiment carries weight: Tenzing never felt the need to climb Everest again, a quiet rebuke to today's record-chasing, oxygen-free, 31-summit era.

For travellers with any interest in the Himalaya, this is the rare mountaineering film that centres the Sherpa experience rather than treating it as supporting cast. It's also a plug for exploring the real geography off-screen: Bandipur, Tengboche and the Khumba valleys are all reachable, and considerably cheaper than a permit.