Widely hailed as the greatest mountaineer of his generation, Alex Lowe was a towering figure in the world of outdoor sports. But he loomed even larger for his oldest son, Max, who was only 11 in 1999 when Alex was buried by an avalanche along with cameraman David Bridges while attempting to ski the north face of Mount Shishapangma in the Tibetan Himalaya. Seventeen years after their deaths, Lowe’s and Bridges’ bodies were found by two climbers attempting the same route, and in the following months, Lowe’s family journeyed to the remote mountain to recover them. In the powerful and deeply moving new documentary TORN, director Max Lowe examines the long-buried feelings thisunearthed for him and his family, including his mother, Jennifer; his younger brothers, Sam and Isaac; and his stepfather, Conrad Anker, Alex’s climbing partner and best friend.

MAX LOWE is a filmmaker and photographer known for the short films “Slacker,” “Adventure Not War,” “Sky Migrations” and, most recently, “Bare Existence.” He has produced commercial still and film content for brands such as The North Face, Calvin Klein and Toyota. Lowe has been on shoots taking him up Alaska’s Inside Passage, into the deserts of the Sahara and to the high peaks of the Himalaya, as well as journeying to Antarctica by sea on three separate expeditions.