Everest: A Mother’s Peak

2026 | 60 min | 4K | UK, Nepal, Slovakia | Directed by Paul Diffley

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ABOUT THE FILM

Empowered by pain, driven by love.

Everest: A Mother’s Peak tells the story of Lucia Janičová’s journey to become the first Slovak woman to summit Mount Everest.

Through intimate access, powerful mountain footage, and a poetic thread running through the story, the film explores the emotional reality behind the climb, motherhood, trauma, resilience, and the search for meaning within an extraordinary act of endurance.

Blending cinematic expedition imagery with animation, spiritual reflection and emotional depth, it becomes more than a film about reaching the summit, it is a meditation on love, endurance, and the quiet force that carries us through suffering.

LUCIA JANIČOVÁ

The woman behind the summit.

Lucia Janičová is a Slovak scientist, mother and mountaineer, and the first Slovak woman to summit Mount Everest. In the film, that achievement is part of a much deeper personal journey shaped by hardship, ambition, love and hope.

Lucia also played an important role in the making of the film as co-producer, with close involvement in both production and post-production. Her contribution helped shape the film’s authenticity and perspective.

PAUL DIFFLEY

Finding the human story behind the climb.

Paul Diffley is a Scottish filmmaker whose work spans documentary, adventure and human-interest storytelling. With a long background in mountain and expedition filmmaking, he is drawn not only to physical challenge, but to the human truths that emerge under pressure.

With Everest: A Mother’s Peak, his aim was to create a film that felt both cinematic and intimate, one that honoured the scale of Everest while staying close to the human story at its heart.

More about Paul Diffley