Darcy Hennessey (Director), Sarah Steele (Producer) | 2025 | 13 min.
2026 Official Selection
While training for the Paris Olympics, professional climber Alannah Yip’s hair suddenly starts to fall out. Within weeks, she’s diagnosed with alopecia universalis, an autoimmune condition that causes complete hair loss. As Alannah grapples with the sudden change to her physical appearance and the fact that she might not qualify for Paris, she confronts deeply held assumptions about beauty, identity, and self-worth. Untangling herself from the constructs that have dominated her life, Alannah departs from the competitive climbing world she’s known since childhood, looks to nature to guide her toward a place of healing, and embarks on a journey to redefine her perceptions—of sport and of self.
A former professional mountain biker, Darcy Hennessey began her film career as an action-sports cinematographer and is now one of the most awarded and prolific female action-sports filmmakers in the industry today. Her artistic pursuits aim to whimsically merge sport and cinema and have gathered hundreds of festival accolades and prestigious Vimeo “Staff Picks” (including Best of the Year) in the process. She was mentored by Darren Aronofsky at the Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab, and loves bridging the gap between documentary, live-action, and all the worlds in between.
