About this project

THE HIGH: MAKING THE TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH, is offering you our loyal fans and followers the opportunity to be a fund raising BACKER and help bring the making of the highest altitude ultra marathon in the world to life! Help back us today!

WHAT IS THE HIGH ABOUT?

In the spring of 2010, I came across a facebook message telling of a man seeking someone to come document his race in the Himalayas covering the two highest motorable passes in the world (17,500ft+).  Following the thread, I connected with the man, Dr. Rajat Chauhan an Indian sports medicine physician living in New Delhi.  Growing up a skilled runner with unattained Olympic dreams, Rajat found himself in mid-life with a family, work, and a need to find an outlet for his running dreams.  During a weekend challenge with friends running to Rohtang La (known as the pass of piled corpses at 13,051ft.) he was stop short of his goal by a landslide and found himself sitting in a cafe staring at an elevation map of Leh-Manali highway.  In an instant he discovered his running outlet right in his own backyard of the Himalayas and went to work making the highest altitude race in the world.  Going up against the military’s opinion, family advice, and friends backing away, he forged ahead with hopes of making the impossible, possible.  

Hearing of this story I started to follow this man and his race.  Traveling to India in 2011, we began the making of THE HIGH and started to uncover the history and the challenge of the first race, while shooting the unfolding of the 2nd.  Now almost 2 years in the making we are working to tell this story in its full depth of how one man followed his dream and in the process ended up standing at the edge of the running world, with only three others by his side, waiting to see what would happen.  Set in the high desert of the Himalayas and crossing over the two highest passes in the world (Khardung La 18,300ft. and Tanglang La 17,582ft.), we watch the battle against dehydration, acclimatization, hypothermia, and drops-outs.  We follow the life changing experiences and near death challenges.  We uncover the emotion of believing in yourself against all odds and in the end unveil the reward of uncovering a path that was believed to be impossible.  It will leave you questioning the roads you've turned away from and challenge you to want to go back and make them possible.  And it's all in, THE HIGH: MAKING THE TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE OFFICIAL THE HIGH WEBSITE

CLICK HERE TO READ FURTHER ON THE STORY OUTLINED

RACE STATS:

• Length: 222km (137 miles)
• Two mountain passes: Khardung La (17,700 ft.), Tanglang La (17,583 ft.)
  
• Lowest point: Leh Valley (11,483 ft.)
• Finish line : Morey Plains (15,000 ft.)
• Time to finish: 60 hours
  
• CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE HIGH RACE WEBSITE

WHAT ARE WE DOING ON KICKSTARTER?

Good question.  I see a great event in human history, combined with a great story of the human spirit, all inside of this micro-culture of ultra running and I want to bring it to you.  But to do that I need to build recreation shoots, finalize additional interviews, and work with an editor to build it at a professional level and Kickstarter.com is an excellent medium to help me do that.  And so starting on January 1, 2012 we are kicking off a fund raising campaign and aiming to raise $5,000 (US) in 40-days or less through Kickstarter. 

**VERY IMPORTANT POINT**  We MUST reach our minimum goal of $5,000 (US) in order for Kickstarter to fund the project. If we don't raise a minimum of $5000 (US) by January 30, 2012 we don't receive ANYTHING!!  If we go over our goal, great --  we can raise more, but not less. 

So we really need your help in making this campaign successful!

HOW WILL THE FUNDS BE SPENT?

Building a documentary breaks down into 3 major functions; pre-production, field production, and post production.  Currently THE HIGH has passed through pre-production and 80% of field production, meaning we have planned the story, outlined the travel and shoot, flown to India and filmed the event, and are back working on the edit and final elements of making it and this is where we need further funding.  To finalize we need to shoot recreations of gaps and missing scenes, finalize interviews with experts and athletes, and edit it together with music and graphics so that it can be presented professionally to film festivals and distributors.  To do this we are looking at a total budget of 15 - 20k and we are looking to the Kickstarter community to help bring in 20 - 30% of the total funds to make it happen and move the project into the final stages.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME - THAT IS, 'YOU' BEING 'ME' AND ME TELLING YOU WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? ;)

Every person who contributes $10 or more to our Kickstarter Campaign will receive a credit as a "THE HIGH FILM BACKER" on our website and every person who contributes $100 or more will receive a custom, THE HIGH - I HELPED MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE T-Shirt!!  But that is just a taste of what you can get, so I encourage you to review further in the contribution section to the right and most important remember whatever you can give is welcomed and we are very thankful for any and all contributions!!

• Please contribute at whatever level feels comfortable and know that we are beyond grateful for whatever you can offer!

• IMPORTANT!!  Please SHARE this Kickstarter link with your family, friends, co-workers, clients, email lists, etc.  As you can imagine I am limited in who I can reach, but you are unlimited.  So thanks in advance. :)

• Join our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and tell all your friends!

• Email us with your ideas, suggestions, input, feedback, inspiration...

• And again TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!! THX :)

We also have SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES available for businesses and corporations, with a variety of amazing benefits-- if your company or a company you know might be interested, please contact us: Productions.btv@gmail.com

Again-- we THANK YOU SO MUCH for making the impossible possible!