Skip to main content
Life is Climbing! film image; two men lean against camper van in desert

Life is Climbing!

This event has passed

Ready for a reminder of how incredible human beings can be? Born in Tokyo in 1968, Koba started climbing at the age of 16. At 28, he was diagnosed with an intractable eye disease called “pigmentary retinal degeneration” and slowly, inexorably, went totally blind. But this hasn’t stopped him from climbing. In 2006 he recorded his first victory in the International Paraclimbing Competition (Men Blind category), with his friend Naoya guiding him, shouting out instructions from the ground. Since then, he’s earned numerous world titles, including four consecutive gold medals in the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019. But Naoya has a dream: he wants to bring Koba out to Indian Creek, Utah, one of the most iconic climbing challenges in the world, and talk him up a twisty, spiral sandstone outcrop poised atop a precipitous cliff face…

An exhilarating, sometimes heartbreaking film about friendship, the gifts of adversity, and the courage it takes to put everything on the line for the thing you love, Life is Climbing! culminates in a breathtaking sequence you won’t soon forget.

June 4, 6:20 pm screening with English Audio Description

 

Jun 3 & 4: Q&A with Koichiro Kobayashi (Koba), his sighted guide Naoya and director Nakahara

Director

Sokichi Nakahara

Cast

Koichiro Kobayashi, Naoya Suzuki

Credits
Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2023

Language

In Japanese with English subtitles

19+
89 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Cinematography

Sokichi Nakahara, Masataka Kiyono

Original Music

Chihei Hatakeyama

Also Playing

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Dir. Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham
79 min

Aardman Animation's handcrafted mix of dad jokes, slapstick, mock dramatics and understated emotion makes this return for the claymation odd couple a constant delight. The villainous Feathers McGraw is back to no good, commandeering Norbot the robot. Rated: G

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

My National Gallery, London

Dir. Phil Grabsky & Ali Ray
90 min

This is a lovely premise for a film. The Exhibition on Screen team look at the National Gallery in London through the eyes of the art lovers who pass through its doors, Each interviewee gets a few minutes to tell us about their favourite painting...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dir. Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de La Patelliere
178 min

You can't beat this evergreen Alexandre Dumas tale for adventure, intrigue and romance. This lavish French blockbuster from the writers of the recent Three Musketeers movies pulls you in from the first scene and doesn't let off for the next three hours. Rated: PG

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

The Holdovers

Dir. Alexander Payne
133 min

Destined to become a seasonal staple, this bittersweet comedy reunites Sideways director and star Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti in the portrait of a surly classics teacher forced to babysit five "orphans" at boarding school over the holidays.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre