SXSW’s ‘The Dark Wizard’ Scales the Life of Visionary Climber Dean Potter (No, Not That Other Wizard Named Potter) — First Look

The HBO docuseries from Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen also features "Free Solo" subject Alex Honnold and plays SXSW on Sunday.

I know what you’re thinking: another climbing documentary? It seems like every festival or streaming service has one annually. But here’s one headed to the SXSW Film and TV Festival that will get people talking — and if you’re in Austin, you’ll soon see it coming out from HBO Documentary Films.

“The Dark Wizard” is about controversial climber and BASE jumper Dean Potter — so, no, not that other Wizard named Potter who is also coming to HBO — who, in between death-defying (for a time, anyway) feats on some of the world’s highest points, also battled his own demons. The influential climber died in 2015 in Yosemite Valley during a wingsuit flight gone wrong.

From highlining in China to wild free solo climbs, the docuseries directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen (“The Alpinist,” “The Dawn Wall,” and “Valley Uprising” among credits between the pair), “The Dark Wizard” tracks how one man’s self-destructive streak turned him into an international fascination — and perennial cheater of death.

The documentary features “Free Solo” subject Alex Honnold, who most recently scaled a 1,667-foot skyscraper in Taipei without ropes or safety equipment. Also hear from those closest to Potter, whose famous climbs include a free-solo trek up El Capitan in Yosemite, scaling the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (which cost him his Patagonia sponsorship), and freeBASING in the Aps.

Halle Johns, Zachary Barr, and Olivia Ahnemann serve as producers on “The Dark Wizard,” which has a first-look image above.

This year’s SXSW launched on Thursday night with the world premiere of Boots Riley’s shoplifting comedy “I Love Boosters.” IndieWire picks 15 movies to check out over here.

“The Dark Wizard” plays the SXSW Film & TV Festival starting Sunday, March 15.