MENDITALK: IAMF GRAND PRIZE 2026

Jennifer Peedom

The International Alliance for Mountain Film is awarding the 2026 Grand Prize to Jennifer Peedom, an Australian writer, director, and producer who creates films combining documentary realism with cinematic grandeur. An extremely personal style that, over the years, has made her one of the most authoritative voices in contemporary documentary cinema, particularly in the fields of nature and mountaineering.
Jennifer Peedom's journey began long ago and at high altitude and the first films that made her stand out were in 2008, ‘Miracle on Everest’ and above all ‘Solo’, winner of many prestigious awards.
The turning point came in 2015 with ‘Sherpa’, which was internationally acclaimed and nominated for a BAFTA award.
Two years later, in 2017, she made ‘Mountain’ in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The film surpassed ‘Sherpa’ and became the most viewed documentary of all time in Australia and was released in cinemas in 26 countries worldwide. The film was awarded with the Special Jury Mention at the Mendi Film Festival in 2017 and closed the Savage Cinema section of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
She is currently presenting ‘Tenzing,’ a feature-length fiction film about Tenzing Norgay and the first ascent of Everest.
After the IAMF Grand Prize awarded in 2022 to Michel Dillon, this new recognition testifies to the vitality and importance of Australian filmmakers on the mountain cinema scene.

TENZING

United Kingdom , Australia , United States, 128 min

Director: Jennifer Peedom

Based on true events, Tenzing chronicles the little-known story of Tenzing Norgay, a gifted Himalayan climber who, alongside New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, was the first to summit Mount Everest. Where Western climbers see Everest as something to be conquered, Tenzing reveres Chomolungma as the sacred mother goddess. What follows is an ascent defined as much by the tensions between social backgrounds, classes, and competing ambitions as by the perils of the mountain itself. But high above the world, empire, rank, and aspiration fall away, leaving two outsiders bound by mutual respect and trust.