SXSW 2026 Review:
"The Ascent"
Mandy Horvath lives by a simple creed: "Tell me that I can’t and I will show you what I can.” In July 2014, Mandy—then 22 years old—lost her legs as a result of a train accident that occurred under horrific and potentially criminal circumstances. Already a fearless, ambitious, and headstrong young woman, the bilateral amputee soon found her calling as a mountaineer, climbing Colorado’s Manitou Incline and Pikes Peak and crawling up the Statue of Liberty on her gloved hands. She does not climb with prosthetic legs, which she finds painful to wear. “The biggest challenge is convincing people I can do things. It’s always a little difficult to get them up to speed to how I operate,” Mandy says early in the SXSW 2026 documentary The Ascent. As demonstrated time after time in The Ascent, when Mandy decides to do something, she finds a way to do it, and to do it her way, even if means putting her health in jeopardy. She trusts herself and rarely places her trust in others. Directed by low-budget action specialist Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, and Francis Cronin, this inspiring portrait of a person living with their limb loss is centered around her 2021 attempt to become the first woman to crawl to one of the Eight Summits of the world, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. No easy task considering each year thousands fail each year to reach the Uhuru Peak and on average a reported 3-10 people die climbing Africa’s tallest mountain. But a few minutes into The Ascent and it is obvious Mandy is not interested in an easy life. To climb isn’t just a way for Mandy to challenge herself—it’s essential to her core being. Once past Mandy’s prep work, the documentary chronicles with dramatic effect the trials and tribulations faced by Mandy, her guides, and her support team as they undertake their hazardous days-long, 8-mile climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. The highs come with the completion of each phase of the physically punishing climb. The lows range from something as bothersome as ants crawling up Mandy’s body to the physical toll on her hands that threaten the climb. Beautifully shot by director of photography Laffrey Witbrod, The Ascent unfolds with a palpable sense of both the joy and the agony that Mandy experiences throughout the climb. More important, Mandy learns under extreme circumstances how to trust others who have her best interests at heart. The climb isn't just a cathartic experience for Mandy but an invaluable life lesson. But the documentary is as much about Mandy’s efforts to confront and conquer her personal demons as it is a testament to the human spirit. “The mountain will ask you about your intentions. I went there in the first place to see out a dream and get away from my nightmares,” Mandy says. She suffered from PTSD following her 2014 accident, which pushed the onetime wild child to alcoholism. While The Ascent rightly puts Mandy on a pedestal for her remarkable accomplishments, it is equally as willing to take an unflinching but empathetic examination of Mandy’s addictive personality, her post-accident recovery and struggles, and her crusade to remain sober. It helps that the unapologetically self-aware and defiantly stubborn Mandy is open and honest about she was then, who she is now, and who she wants to be. Of course, The Ascent places Mandy’s challenges within the content of her 2014 accident. The Ascent take a deep dive into the events that led to Mandy’s 2014 accident and its aftermath as they—like Mandy and her family before her—try to determine how and why she was found lying and seemingly posed on railroad tracks after a night at a bar with her boyfriend and her friend. The filmmakers shrewdly juxtapose the lingering mystery of the events of July 26, 2014 against Mandy’s physically and emotionally grueling climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. You walked away from The Ascent with a good sense of what prompted the tragedy that befell Mandy on that night and appalled that justice will likely never be served. That said, while the outcome of fateful night in 2014 has since informed every day of Mandy’s life, the source of Mandy’s intense perseverance does not fully trace back to her accident. She clearly was built to withstand whatever life threw at her even as a young adult. If anything, the accident may have pushed Mandy to find her true potential and to become the best version of herself. Uplifting without being sentimental or condescending, The Ascent serves as a vital reminder that the mind is and always will be stronger than the body when you place your faith in yourself. Posted: March 31, 2026. Web site: https://schedule.sxsw.com/films/2243803 |
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