As Netflix prepares to release Lucy Walker’s latest documentary “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa” — which follows a mountain climber attempting her record tenth ascent up Mt. Everest — on July 31 the Paris Theater is set to celebrate the director’s unique career with a new retrospective.
The historic New York theater, which was acquired by Netflix in 2019, will screen 11 of Walker’s films from July 24-August 7 in a retrospective titled “Mountain Queen and the Cinematic Summits of Lucy Walker.” In addition to Walker’s new film, the series will include “Devil’s Playground,” her 2002 documentary about Amish teenagers engaging in the tradition of rumspringa; her 2006 mountain climbing documentary “Blindsight;” her Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary about Brazilian landfill workers “Waste Land;” the 2013 snowboarding documentary “The Crash Reel;” and her 2021 wildfire documentary “Bring Your Own Brigade.” Five of Walker’s short films will also be screened throughout the retrospective.
“The moment when one thing turns into another is the most beautiful moment. I hunt for opportunities to glimpse these precious moments, and I long for the sensitivity and wherewithal to capture them, allowing them to expand me,” Walker said in a statement announcing the retrospective. “From the Amish teenagers struggling to decide where they belong in ‘Devil’s Playground,’ to the global blind team from all ages climbing Everest in ‘Blindsight,’ to the artists who sift recyclables from the world’s biggest garbage dump in Rio de Janeiro in ‘Waste Land,’ and now to Lhakpa Sherpa and her family in ‘Mountain Queen’– It has been the privilege of my life to get to know, and to document their journeys. It is because of their generosity and courage that we can bear witness to their exquisite transformations. I am so grateful to Netflix for programming these films at the historic Paris Theater. It is a dream come true. Some of the films have not been available and I am excited and honored to present them all in one place.”
Below is the complete screening schedule and the description of the series courtesy of Netflix.
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
6:00 PM – MOUNTAIN QUEEN: THE SUMMITS OF LHAKPA SHERPA (2024)
Q&A with Lucy Walker, Lhakpa Sherpa, Sunny Dijmarescu, Shiny Dijmarescu
Friday, August 2, 2024
7:00 PM – WASTE LAND
Saturday, August 3, 2024
4:00 PM – THE CRASH REEL
Sunday, August 4, 2024
1:45 PM – BLINDSIGHT
Sunday, August 4, 2024
7:00 PM – DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND
Monday, August 5, 2024
7:00 PM – LUCY WALKER SHORT FILM SHOWCASE
Thursday, August 8, 2024
7:00 PM – BRING YOUR OWN BRIGADE
In celebration of her latest film, “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” The Paris Theater is proud to present eleven films from twenty years of remarkable storytelling from the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker. Not content to have her films blend into the traditional documentary landscape, Walker has consistently sought to unearth stories unlike anything filmed before, full of dramatic tension, memorable characters and visual splendor. She has traversed the globe with an adventurer’s spirit to transport us into challenging, inaccessible environments, imbuing her films – both feature length and short subject – with a unique cinematic spirit.
From her debut film, Devil’s Playground, which observes Amish teens experiencing life outside their community for the first time, Walker showed an uncommon ability to earn the trust of her subjects, a skill that would serve her well as she sought out new and exciting stories from people rarely given the spotlight. From the young climbers intent on scaling Mount Everest in “Blindsight,” to those dealing with the devastating effects of California wildfires in “Bring Your Own Brigade,” to the Brazilian catadores who collect recyclable materials from the world’s largest garbage dump in her Academy Award-nominated “Waste Land,” Walker allows us to empathize and find common ground with people far removed from our own everyday realities.
Walker’s films also allow us to walk in the shoes of those who have dedicated their lives to exceeding ordinary human limitations. In “The Crash Reel,” she catalogs the attempted comeback of Olympic athlete Kevin Pearce as he reenters the extreme sport of snowboarding following a traumatic brain injury. And in her latest triumph, “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” she introduces us to the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest who, despite living a quiet life in Connecticut, resolves to return to the peak.
The ultimate power of Walker’s films lies in their ability to intimately connect us with the grandeur and inspiration taking place around the world everyday; epic in scale, rich and complex in emotion, these films each provide an unforgettable journey not to be missed.
