Liang Junjian, co-director of the movie Himalaya: Ladder to Paradise talks to the audience at a screening of the movie in Washington on Wednesday. PHOTOS BY DONG LESHUO / CHINA DAILY

People sweltering through the heat of a Washington D C summer got the chance to cool off a bit by viewing some breathtaking Himalayan mountain scenery.

The documentary Himalaya: Ladder to Paradise was screened for the public in Washington's Chinatown on Wednesday.

Directed by Chinese filmmakers Xiao Han and Liang Junjian, the 89-minute film explores the lives of young Tibetans living on Mount Qomolangma (also known as Mount Everest), the highest peak on earth.

"We want to show the audience something different in the cinema," said Liang Junjian, who is also an assistant professor at School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The movie tells the story of a group of young Sherpas in Tibet who were trained to be climbing guides at a local school and successfully lead climbers up the legendary mountain.

"We want to reflect the transitions in Tibet from a special perspective," Liang said, "to show the transitions through their relationship with their families, their religions and what climbing means to them."

The documentary is the product of four years of collaborative work by a multicultural team, which included Han people, Tibetans and Western filmmakers.

The idea of making the movie dates back to 2010. It took two years for the team to do the preparation. Then they took a year to shoot 540 hours of film and another year to edit, according to Liang.