Rolake Bamgbose & Justice A. Whitaker To Direct Feature Doc On First All-Black Team To Summit Mount Everest For Westbrook & REI

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Westbrook Studios and REI Co-op Studios have teamed up to produce a documentary about the first all-Black team, supported by Nepali Sherpas, to summit Mount Everest.

News & Documentary Emmy nominee Rolake Bamgbose (The Weekly) and Justice A. Whitaker (Restrictions Apply) will direct and produce the project about the team’s historic achievement notched earlier this month via their Shango Light Films banner, in their feature debut.The as-yet-untitled documentary will follow nine athletes as they shift the legacy in a white-dominated sport while experiencing a unique global cultural exchange during their triumphant journey to the top of the famous peak.

Rooted in the story of the Everest ascent and the year of training the climbers underwent as a team, the film’s true emotional anchor is embedded in the individual journeys undertaken by each of the climbers, representing the diversity of the Black experience in the outdoor community.

The team includes two professional climbers for The North Face Manoah Ainuu and Fred Campbell, as well as Abby Dione, James Kagambi, Thomas Moore, Demond Mullins, Rosemary Saal, Eddie Taylor, team leader Philip Henderson, team photographer Evan Green and communications tech/researcher Adina Scott.While the Full Circle team just summited Everest on May 12th, Bamgbose and Whitaker began discussing a doc on the expedition with team leader Henderson in early 2020, and were ultimately granted exclusive access.