In the heart of the lofty, knife-sharp Vindhya Mountains in India sits a 2200 m rock and ice route that resembles a massive shark fin and rises from the ocean of crags. This fin, which is twice as long as anything on El Capitan and just as steep, has denied many notable climbers from reaching its summit.
In Samsara Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk set out to attempt a first ascent. The film is woven together with art, journal excerpts and still photography. Produced by the athletes, Samara is an unfiltered perspective into a powerful Himalayan climbing experience. The team spends 20 days of life on the cliff face with ten days of food through major storm cycles on a hanging platform smaller than the size of a single bed. They push to the very edge of what they thought possible and rediscover why they are drawn to suffer in such sacred and beautiful places.
Here's the thing: The sacred peak, Meru, is said in mythology to be the center of the universe, but can you climb to the center of the universe?

Renan Oztruk
Renan discovered his passion for climbing while attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs. As a member of the small community of climbers there, he honed his skills, deepened his connection to the sport of climbing and dreamed of the remote and beautiful places it could take him. Renan graduated with a degree in biology but not before traveling to Nepal to study the language and culture of a country to which he is still intimately connected. During the last three years Renan has spent multiple seasons climbing in Indian Creek, Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Squamish, and the Bugaboos. The stunning scenery of these locations serves as inspiration for Renan’s other passion, his artwork, which is creating as much of a buzz as his rock skills.