Directed by Chris Malloy, 180° South is the story of one of the most unique and prolific environmentalists of our time, Yvon Chouinard. Rather than re-living Chouinard's story through old photos and his life's work with pie charts, 180° South weaves Chouinard's tale through a modern-day expedition. This expedition was inspired by the rumour of a legendary trip in 1968 and the proof that came with it when the lost cans of film that documented the trip were recently discovered.
The old footage captures Chouinard and best friend Doug Tompkins in 1968 as they explore untouched mountain ranges and un-surfed coastlines on a 5000-mile expedition from California to deep Patagonia. For the two men, the original '68 adventure still stands as "the trip of our lives". A young American adventurer named Jeff Johnson happened to stumble upon the footage in 1999 and spent the next 10 years dreaming of following their footsteps south. In 2007, Johnson dropped everything to fulfil his dream.
He set out to follow Chouinard's classic route on what became a six-month traverse of North and South America. His hope is simply to find unclimbed mountains and un-ridden waves in the spirit of his heroes. However, as he travels, his eyes open up to the see environmental disasters that threaten these places, as well as the human triumphs that are working to save them. From the start of the film, each scene seamlessly echoes back and forth between Johnson's modern-day adventure and conversations happening in a century-old stone cabin in deep Patagonia.
180° South will be releasing exclusively at SK and Cinema Nouveau Theatres nationwide from this Friday, 29 October:
Cinema Nouveau Rosebank (Johannesburg)
Cinema Nouveau Bedford Centre, Bedfordview (Johannesburg)
Cinema Nouveau Brooklyn Mall (Pretoria)
Cinema Nouveau Cavendish Square (Cape Town)
Cinema Nouveau V&A Waterfront (Cape Town)
Cinema Nouveau Gateway (Durban)
SK Eikestad (Stellenbosch)
Stills from the film are available for download via www.skpictures.co.za
Go to the film's official website for more information: www.180south.com
Ster-Kinekor Theatres offers customers multiple booking and information-gathering options, including online bookings either on your WAP-enabled cellphone or PC via www.sterkinekor.com; or by calling TicketLine +27 (0)82 16789 (value-added service rates apply), or book in cinema at the self-service terminals (SSTs) or Box Offices.
