LIMITLESS FILMMAKING WITH CHAI VASARHELYI

Oscar®-winning filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi began working on her first documentary A Normal Life in college, which followed seven young friends rebuilding their lives after the war in Kosovo. The film won the Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003 kickstarting an incredible body of work alongside her creative collaborator Jimmy Chin, one that has pushed the limits of documentary filmmaking practice, craft and technology.

From her iconic Oscar®-winning 2018 documentary Free Solo following Alex Honnold on his quest to perform the first-ever free solo climb of a route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park; to The Rescue chronicling the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue; to Wild Life on conservationists Kris Tompkins and Doug Tompkins; and Himalayan-set climbing documentary Meru – Vasarhelyi’s groundbreaking documentaries tell human stories of survival against all odds, astounding athletic accomplishment and passionate pursuits to conserve our natural world.

In the “Gilded Age” of adventure filmmaking, Vasarheyli and Chin have remained at the cutting edge of new filming technologies to gain never-before access to extreme perspectives balanced with their deft storytelling craft that has resulted in accolades including Academy, Emmy, Sundance, TIFF, Cinema Eye Honours, and BAFTA awards.

With an oeuvre spanning feature documentaries, series and online across NatGeo, Disney+, NYT OpDocs, Netflix and ESPN, Chai is as adept at navigating different forms and platforms as she is exploring humanity at its most extreme precipices. Her latest feature film (co-directed with Chin),  Love+War, follows Pulitzer-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario as she captures the Russo-Ukrainian War. Vasarhelyi’s next project, From the Edge (WT) is an immersive documentary filmed for the Sphere dome experience in Las Vegas, following extreme sports around the world. 

In this exclusive spotlight, Chai shares invaluable insights into her creative practice, the power and perils of filming in extreme environments and her methods for crafting complex global stories with indelible legacies.

MODERATOR: Natasha Gadd (AIDC)

SPEAKER: Chai Vasarhelyi (Little Monster Films, USA/Online)

Photo Credits: 1. Jimmy Chin filming during production of Free Solo (National Geographic, 2018), 2. Lost in the Jungle (National Geographic, 2025), 3. Love+War (National Geographic, 2025)