SXSW 2026 Review: THE ASCENT, Climb Every Mountain

On a summer night in 2014, Mandy Horvath lost her legs. Now she wants to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Ascent
The film enjoyed its world premiere at SXSW 2026. Visit the official festival page for the film for more information.

Some people find it daunting just to get out of bed in the morning.

In the years since she barely survived a railroad train running over her legs, Mandy Horvath has faced many more challenges, all with an unconquerable spirit. She describes herself as stubborn, refusing to allow her missing limbs to define her life and limit the possibilities that are open to her.

Still haunted by the mysterious circumstances that shrouded the night she lost her legs, she takes up climbing to deal with her post-traumatic stress. She first climbs a mountainous incline that captures the attention of the media and the public at large. Then she begins setting increasingly higher peaks to climb, eventually settling on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa, with an elevation of more than 19,000 feet (5,895 meters), making it the fourth most prominent peak on Earth.

Bear in mind: she is making the journey by walking all the way up ... on her hands.

Mount Kilimanjaro is incredibly beautiful, yet is also incredibly perilous, taking four lives (on average) every year. Hundreds of fully-abled climbers fall short every year.

Directors Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, and Francis Cronin are not content with merely recording Mandy Horvath's arduous physical journey as she endeavors to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, which is a heroic adventure all its own. They also document her emotional journey as she recovered from that horrible night in 2014, rehabilitating her body to adjust for her missing limbs, and learning how to live by herself without having an apartment modified for people with disabilities.

Simultaneously, the directors weave in a narrative thread that follows up on strong suspicions by Mandy and her parents that someone or, perhaps, more than one person, was involved in the events that led to double amputation. After all, she was found on the train tracks, her body perfectly placed so that she would lose her legs. Also, her arms were folded in a particular pose. Also, the location where she was found was quite a distance from the only bar in the tiny hamlet, population 82. Also, it was reported by multiple witnesses that she was inebriated.

Having these facts in mind, why did the local police assume that she walked half a mile in the dark on difficult terrain to lay her body down on the tracks to commit suicide? Why did they halt their investigation and declare it an "accident"

Mandy Horvath has been dealing with these and many other true-crime questions since that tragic night in 2014. She lost faith in others. She became intensely wary of others and always questioned their intentions.

Yet, she persisted. She decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. And The Ascent documents her attempt, while reclaiming her life from a haunting past. And deciding whether to trust strangers for the first time in years. All these elements coalesce into a riveting experience that stretches beyond the boundaries of a routine disabled / mountain climbing / true-crime documentary.