Apple Original Films has acquired worldwide rights to the sports documentary “The Last First: Winter K2,” which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Directed by Amir Bar Lev, The Last First chronicles a 2021 extreme mountaineering expedition to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world. The story is told through the lens of father and son mountaineers, Icelander Jon Snorri Sigurjönsson and Pakistani Ali Sajid Sajpara, who compete to be the first to summit K2 during winter, when conditions on the mountain are at their most extreme. Apple said in a press release that “The Last First: Winter K2” takes viewers “to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2, revealing a surprising, multi-layered story of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power, and more in life and death situations.”
Propagate Content producers Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens said: “At its heart, this is a deeply human story about the cost of ambition and those left behind in search of answers.” “Amir approaches this film with empathy and precision, and after such a strong debut at Sundance, we are honored to bring it to audiences around the world on Apple TV.”
In a review for Variety magazine, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman called The Last First “engrossing but not exhilarating,” adding, “It’s not another documentary about daredevil glory and climbing every mountain. It’s a film that literally shows you the dark side of getting high.”
Sundance sales are sluggish. Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy The Invite was sold to A24, the crowd-pleaser Shake Your Ass! was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, and the horror-thriller Leviticus was acquired by Neon. But other festival favorites such as “Josephine,” “The Wicker,” “Union County” and “Chasing Summer” remain unbuyable.
Apple’s major Sundance acquisitions over the years include the Oscar-nominated documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light,” the musical drama “Flora and Son,” and the Academy Award-winning film “CODA.”
