Film maker Asad Qureshi will relive his terrifying ordeal on Mount Everest next month.

The Bradford-based producer and director was asked to make the official documentary of the first all-Pakistani attempt to conquer the world's tallest peak in 1997.

And the film, called Everest - Men Against Nature, will be shown in Britain for the first time at 8.15pm on February 19.

The free screening will be at the Priestley Centre for the Arts in Chapel Street, Little Germany.

"I don't like to use the term premiere but it will be the first time it has been shown in this country," said Mr Qureshi, who runs Avant Garde Films in the Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham.

The expedition was mounted to mark the 50th anniversary of the independence of Pakistan and he has already shown the film at a celebration reception in Pakistan.

"It has been quite a difficult experience for me going back to the footage of the expedition," said Mr Qureshi. "The whole thing was like nothing else I had ever experienced before. I was a complete novice and I had never been in the wilderness like that."

Mr Qureshi, who worked on blockbuster films like Raiders of the Lost Ark before setting up his own company, said the trip was far more gruelling than he could have imagined.

In all he spent two-and-a-half months on the mountain and suffered from exhaustion from carrying equipment, claustrophobia and hallucinations from lack of oxygen. He was allowed to go no higher than 6,000 metres because he was not an experienced mountaineer but that was still much farther than most novices manage. The team of professional climbers failed to make the summit despite three attempts from base camp.

Mr Qureshi is negotiating to have his 50-minute film, partly funded by the Yorkshire Media Production Agency, shown on television in Pakistan and may try to sell the rights for it to be broadcast in this country.

Admission to the Bradford screening is free but numbers are limited. Ring Avant-Garde on (01274) 223217 for details.

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