From the ‘60s to the 2000s: many things have changed since Walter Bonatti’s exploraIons. Nowadays we can easily reach any place on earth we want thanks to a countless number of planes taking off every hour of the day. Travel agencies allow us to experience adventures in untouched lands. Ultimately, unexplored areas have completely disappeared from the maps. Those once unknown areas have now been largely visited, traced and globalised. The unknown is left behind and kept in the literature of the past. Browsing through the Bonatti’s archive the images of landscapes, places and people on the edge of the Earth take clear shape in our minds. Do they still exist? How did they transform? The only way to find it out is to go back there. 40 years have passed by. What can it mean returning to the same places explored and narrated by Walter? Go back there with the same simplicity and humility as he did: a camera around his neck, a backpack on his shoulders and a huge desire to explore the world.

Progress has somehow distanced man from nature. When Bonatti began his exploration of the verIcal world, there were still pristine areas and territories where you could stop and listen to the sound of nature, meet people with different lifestyles and different priorities. The documentary aims to raise awareness of the importance of following natures rhythms and therefore to avoid the collapse of our planet. There is a way of understanding life and for many years we have grown distant from it, however, now, it has been returning as the central theme of our existence. An example of this is shown to us by the climate crisis. Bonatti, through his reportages, speaks a transversal language over time and shows us how much mankind has impacted the planet, transforming it from a social, cultural and environmental point of view. But he also tells us about a rediscovered relationship with the world, without fears and preconceptions, which becomes useful for rediscovering ourselves as part of an innate natural dimension.

Director
Ludovico De Maistre
Story
Daniel Coffaro, Gian Luca Gasca
Screenplay
Director of photography
Sound
Emiliano Frediani
Cast and characters

Ludovico de Maistre, Gian Luca Gasca, Daniela Berta (Direttrice del Museo Nazionale della Montagna).

Producer
Ludovico de Maistre
Production
Travel Media House
con il sostegno di Film Commission Torino Piemonte - Short Film Fund - dicembre 2022
Last update: 09 March 2023