The DREFF and the “Siempre Más” Foundation Present Motivational Documentary to Local Students and Encourages Them to Follow Their Dreams

The Dominican Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) recently presented the documentary La Montaña (The Mountain) to hundreds of students from the Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro high school, in the northeast Santo Domingo community of San Isidro. Most of the students who attend the public high school are the children of Dominican Air Force officials. The showing was organized by the DREFF and the “Siempre
Más” Foundation.

After viewing the documentary, the students participated in an open conversation with experienced Dominican mountaineer and Foundation president Karim Mella, who discussed with the students his experiences in the planning and successful climbing of Mt. Everest, where he reached the top of the world’s highest mountain on two
occasions.

Mella also discussed his trips to the Dominican Republic’s Duarte Peak, the tallest in the Caribbean.   With his presentation, Mella motivated the students to follow their dreams by conquering their own personal mountains and to overcome whatever obstacles they may find along the way of their young  lives.

About “La Montaña”
The documentary, based on
the Mt. Everest expedition carried out by Iván Gómez, Karim Mella and Federico Joviné in 2011, was directed by Tabaré Blanchard and co-directed by Iván Herrera, with music and narration by Dominican singer/songwriter Pavel Núñez.  Marco Herrera and Laura Castellanos were the documentary’s executive producers.

The documentary “La Montaña” also includes the story of three young Dominicans from the southwest town of Nizao who, inspired by
the Mt. Everest expedition, decided to launch their own expedition to Duarte Peak,  the country’s tallest and most challenging mountain.