Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are divorcing six years after they won an Academy Award for their documentary Free Solo
“After a great deal of care and consideration, we have come to the difficult decision to end our marriage,” the pair tell PEOPLE in a statement
Vasarhelyi and Chin’s company Little Monster Films says the divorce will not impact any work on films “currently in production or post production”
Filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who made the Academy Award-winning 2018 documentary Free Solo, are filing for divorce.
“After a great deal of care and consideration, we have come to the difficult decision to end our marriage,” the pair tell PEOPLE in an exclusive statement on Wednesday, April 30. “Over the past 13 years, our lives have been filled with adventure both telling stories that resonate deeply with audiences, and most importantly, being parents to our two wonderful children. As we move forward separately in our personal lives, our children remain at the center of our universe.”
Vasarhelyi, who has been making documentaries for over 20 years, and Chin, a professional climber, skier and photographer who transitioned into documentary filmmaking after their married, tied the knot in May 2013, according to The New York Times. The pair share daughter Marina and son James and had split their time between living in New York City and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to their production company Little Monster Films’ website.
The production company also released a statement on Wednesday, April 30, acknowledging that Vasarhelyi and Chin “have made the difficult decision to end their marriage.”
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Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi on Feb. 24, 2019
“This announcement will not impact the work at LMF including the company’s slate currently in production and post production,” the statement reads. “The duo remains committed to their production teams and to honoring the incredible work of so many talented people who have contributed to all their films, past, present and future.”
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Chin and Vasarhelyi have collaborated as directors on seven documentary film projects, beginning with 2015’s Meru. The couple received widespread acclaim for Free Solo, which followed rock climber Alex Honnold on his journey to complete a “free solo” climb of an area of California’s Yosemite National Park. Free Solo won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2019 and also won Best Documentary at the 2019 BAFTA Awards, in addition to seven Emmy Awards that same year.
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Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi on March 10, 2024
“Thank you to our families, especially our two kids — Marina, I know you’re here,” Vasarhelyi said in part when she and Chin accepted their Oscar in 2019.
In 2023, the pair branched into narrative movies with the Oscar nominated biopic Nyad, which starred Annette Bening as real-life marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. Most recently, Chin and Vasarhelyi released a 2024 documentary with National Geographic titled Endurance, which follows a team of explorers who in 2022 attempted to locate a ship that sunk near the Arctic in 1915.
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