Two friends climb their way through life’s challenges. Battling lung cancer and the complex feelings of losing a friend in the mountains they embark on a journey to climb Mongolia’s highest peak, Mount Khuiten, two years after an expedition to Nepal which resulted both in success and failure.

Director Biography - Ida Vincent, Tammy Martin

The directors Tammy and Ida learned to climb together in 2012 and have been friends and climbing buddies ever since. In 2016 Ida was diagnosed with lung cancer and needed major lung surgery. The recovery was grueling, to give Ida something to work towards they planned an expedition to Nepal in 2017 to climb Ama Dablam. They both completed a course in film production at the Northwest Film Forum with the aim to film their Nepal expedition. They learnt a lot about filming and directing during this expedition and took these skills with them on their latest expedition to Mongolia in 2019. The result is their debut film High Hopes.

Director Statement

We wanted to showcase women in the outdoors and the spirit of perseverance in the face of adversity. This film turned out a little different than originally intended as we did not expect Ida’s cancer to return right before our expedition to Mongolia. It was a mere miracle Ida could still make the expedition which in turn ended up being a much more emotional journey than we had originally planned. While watching this film we hope the viewer comes along on the journey with us, grieving the lows and celebrating the highs. Most off all we hope it inspires everyone to live fully every single day!