The Phoenix Park and the AGEFISA association are organizing the 17th International Festival of Nature and Adventure Images: EXPLORIMAGES 2012.
From November 9 to 11, 2012, enjoy 2 days and 2 nights of exceptional screenings and meetings…. extraordinary adventures, sports, human and scientific, at the heart of nature.
A must-attend event for lovers of beautiful images and vast wilderness, the EXPLORIMAGES festival annually offers a program of high-quality films, documentaries, shows, and various animations dedicated to the discovery and preservation of our planet, its populations, and biodiversity.
Thanks to the presence of its guests and the quality of its images, the festival EXPLORIMAGES also aims to be a place for meetings, reflection, and dialogue. A great opportunity to offer a platform to filmmakers, scientists, adventurers, journalists, writers, elected officials, media personalities, associations, and organizations actively working on the ground to meet the public.
India is being honored this year for the opening of the 17th edition of this festival: the theme selected for the inaugural evening is “India in Color,” between wisdom and spirituality….
Dominique Leroy, a renowned reporter and specialist of this country, will host the evening.
A dozen photographers will exhibit in the Emerald room on travel subjects (India, Senegal, Namibia, Romania…) and nature: the fauna and flora of our region as well as from other countries. The Nice photographers’ collective “Photon” will present its exhibition “At the Lens’ Edge.”
Finally, during the festival, Phoenix Park will inaugurate the Pyramid room with a first exhibition marking the start of a world tour underground: a series of animations dedicated to natural (caves and chasms) and artificial cavities (mines, troglodyte sites, catacombs, and underground passages), bats, and cave fauna … to be continued…
Program:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9: 8:30 PM / 11:30 PM
INDIA IN COLOR, BETWEEN WISDOM AND SPIRITUALITY
Dominique Leroy – C.Danslaboite Production – France – 2012
Exploring India, the diversity of its beliefs, the cosmopolitanism of its cities and culture, the ethnic multiplicity of this country of nearly 1.2 billion inhabitants. The film highlights popular wisdom, sensory perceptions, sensitivity, and humility to remind us westerners that happiness is not measured by the quantity of goods we possess but by the love and regard we are capable of giving others.
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, ON THE PATHS OF KAILASH
Florence Tran and Simon Allix. Sombrero & Co with France 5 and Voyage. 2011
In the heart of the Himalayas, a unique place has attracted pilgrims in search of beauty and the absolute for millennia. It’s Mount Kailash: the sacred mountain for millions of Buddhists and Hindus. Two travelers, fascinated by the power of this place, undertake this pilgrimage from Kathmandu to the far reaches of the Tibetan far-west. Each is driven by a personal quest. Simon returns 15 years later for a final tribute to his brother Thomas. Florence is motivated by a profound desire for change! Will they find there what they have been searching for all these years?
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10: 10:00 AM / 1:00 PM
BETWEEN DOGS AND WOLVES
Paul-Aurélien Combre – Mona Lisa Productions – 2010
Sébastien continually takes in dogs and trains them to embark on polar expeditions. Running, swimming, osteopathy, his dogs and he follow a high-level athletic program in France. But it’s not competition that interests them… Once in the solitude of the boreal forests, the bond that unites them is fully revealed. This complicity, this union in effort, is what Sébastien seeks so far from his homeland. Despite the cold, wind, and distance, they never complain. And the few moments of pleasure become even more intense…
THE CROCODILES’ TEARS
Luc Marescot – Production: What’s Up Films – France 2 – 2012
In Botswana, in the Okavango Delta, the massacre of crocodiles since the 1960s has upset the balance of nature. To understand the consequences better and try to find solutions, two biologists venture diving into the most remote and unexplored waters of the delta, mainly under the vast expanses of papyrus where crocodiles and hippos roam and find refuge. In a maze of dark, fully submerged tunnels resembling underwater caves, the explorers will discover, without protection and with moments of great fear, the lairs of large super-predators!
THE POLAR PATH Thierry Robert – The Fifth Dream, MFP, France Televisions, Thalassa – 2012
Sébastien Roubinet decided to bring Rodolphe André on an unprecedented adventure: the full crossing of the Arctic Ocean by sail, without resupply, from Alaska to the Norwegian Spitzberg islands, via the geographic North Pole! Sébastien designed an ingenious catamaran, a hybrid ice cart. Onboard their tiny vessel, the explorers experience a wild 47-day adventure, from laughter to tears, from the excitement of departure to the harsh reality…
2:00 PM / 7:00 PM
AZALAI, THE SALT ROUTE Claudine ARNAUD and Olivier BOROT – France – 2012
Sahara: at the heart of a caravan, in northern Mali
1600 Km round trip between Timbuktu and the salt mines of Taoudenni. 5 days by truck between Timbuktu and Taoudenni. 23 days by camel in a caravan bringing salt to Timbuktu.
23 days sharing the daily life of the caravaners, observing these proud and dignified men who repeat their ancestors’ gestures, guiding their animals through the desert. 23 days mixed with anxieties and fears, diseases and exhaustion.
7000 METERS ABOVE THE WAR
Louis Meunier – Taimani Films – Memento – 2011
Afghanistan was once renowned for the beauty of its nature and the hospitality of its inhabitants. Today, this Central Asian country is synonymous with conflict, terrorism, and danger. To make their mark in history and send a message of peace to their war-torn country, four young mountaineers set themselves an incredible challenge: to be the first Afghans to reach the highest peak in their country, the Noshaq, which rises to 7,492 meters.
WOWO 2012
Christophe Meyer – Self-production – France/Switzerland – 2012
Wowo is the name of a vast underground network located in the Nakanaï Mountains, New Britain (Papua New Guinea), whose exploration had been halted years ago by siphons over four hundred meters deep. In 2012, Jean-Paul Sounier returns to the chasm with diving equipment to continue the exploration. With his team, he will make new discoveries, allowing this underground network to become the second deepest and third longest chasm in this region of the world.
ADVENTURE WITH A HANDICAP AT BAUME OBSCURE CAVE
Christian Starck – Self-production – France – 2010
This film shows that visiting a cave, even adapted, can be a great and beautiful adventure for physically disabled people, provided certain conditions are met: friendship and assistance from able-bodied individuals, as well as flawless logistical organization. Twenty years ago, when Christian Starck, founder and president of the association Handicap Adventure, announced his intention to organize an underground excursion with disabled people, many thought him a dreamer or even mad. But his determination paved the way. A way of unyielding conviction.
MONT ST ELIAS
Gerald Salmina – Planet Watch – Austria – 2009
In Alaska, at Mt Saint Elias (5,489 meters) on the Pacific Rim, two Austrian skiers attempt for the second time to descend the steepest and most difficult slope in the world: two days descent on a 5,389 m vertical drop, inclinations reaching 60°, ice, crevasses, snow and rock avalanches, dreadful weather that makes merely reaching the summit an achievement!
8:30 PM / 11:30 PM : NIGHT OF VERTICAL ADVENTURE
PETZL ROCTRIP CHINA
Vladimir Cellier and Julien Nadiras – Baraka Films – France – 2012
In 2011, one of the largest climbing gatherings in the world was held in Getu Valley, in the heart of China.
Climbers discovered an exceptional, entirely novel site: the Chuanschang arch which takes on full dimension in autumn, when the rising sun likes to traverse it and projects its ray on the other side of the river. On the menu: a cocktail of extreme routes and routes for everyone, served on delightful limestone. Far from sporting competition, this event allows everyone to express themselves on routes specially opened for the occasion.
THE MERIDIAN OF THE ECRINS
Evrard WENDEBAUM – Migoo TV – 2009 – France
Eight austere north faces naturally aligned along a north-south axis through the magnificent and wild Écrins National Park. A beautiful playground for two young mountaineers in search of adventure! Taking advantage of a beautiful anticyclone, Aymeric Clouet and Christophe Dumarest launch into chaining ascents of all these walls without ever descending to the valley. It will take them more than 12 days, pushing them to the brink of exhaustion.
IN THE TOOTH , FROM THE CROSS TO THE SOURCE
Serge Caillault, Guy Ferrando, Pascal Groseil – France – 2011
Clémentine invites three friends for a true speleological exploration: to follow the water’s journey through the mountain, from the enchanting summit of the Dent de Crolles to its reappearance in the sun, 700 meters below. The proposed underground route has never been completed before. It is a true first attempt here. The film traces the basis, even the intimacy of this adventure as both physical and human, requiring endurance, intelligence, and a spirit of solidarity. The women have no choice but to continue to the exit…
I BELIEVE I CAN FLY 40 MN
Sébastien Montaz-Rosset – Self-production – France – 2011
The precipice as a playground! Nature abhors a vacuum, but not these boys.
The camera follows the journey of a group of “highliners,” extreme tightrope walkers,
who lay their tightrope at the top of towers in Paris or the mountains of Norway. Acrobats with only one idea in mind: to flirt with the void and enjoy the adrenaline rush of vertigo that grips even the simple spectator.
THE IRON HOLE
Pavol Barabas – K2 studio Production – Slovakia – 2011
In the heart of Réunion Island National Park, the “Trou de Fer” is one of the most beautiful but also one of the most challenging canyons on the planet. Volcanic activity has caused a unique, vertiginous geological collapse. Constant rains make it one of the wettest areas in the world, explaining why very few canyoning enthusiasts venture into this part of the island. Despite the difficulties, five Slovaks take on the adventure, encountering the worst challenges in attempting to complete the canyon descent.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11: 10:00 AM / 1:00 PM
IN DIAGON’ANE, A JOURNEY TOWARDS SIMPLICITY
Chrystel and Thomas NICOLAS – Nomadcreation – France – 2012
The amazing journey of a family from the Meuse canals to the bastides of the Périgord. A thousand kilometers traveled on foot with a donkey, for several months, to experience this wandering with two very young children. A journey to learn the art of walking and discover hands-on education.
SIX MONTHS OF CABIN IN BAIKAL
Sylvain Tesson and Florence Tran – Co-production Bô Travail and France Televisions, France – 2011
To satiate his need for freedom, Sylvain Tesson found a radical solution: lock himself in a cabin in the middle of the Siberian taiga, on the shores of Lake Baikal. From February to July, he chose to experience silence, solitude, and cold. By filming his impressions almost daily, his joys and sorrows in the face of the lake’s splendor, his doubts, but also his moments of ecstasy, inner peace, and osmosis with nature, he shares a dream rooted in childhood, the experience of inner transformation. “Cabin life teaches one to inhabit the moment, expect nothing from the future, and to embrace what happens as a celebration. The genius of the place helps to tame time.”
TERMINUS BOREAL, IMMERSION IN SAAMI COUNTRY
Bruno Peyronnet – Eliocom – France – 2012
Ski-rail trip in Swedish Lapland, another approach to nature travel. A team of hikers deeply in love with Nordic settings departs for northern Europe, initially taking the train to adhere to a certain travel philosophy: take your time, avoid hops, respect the distances our planet offers, restore the Earth’s true grandeur… After a gentle arrival, they find themselves in the vastness of the North, for a most exotic ski expedition.
2:00 PM / 7:00 PM
AMBASSADOR DOLPHINS, THE SEA’S MESSENGERS
Bruno Vienne and Jeanne Mascolo de Philippis – Monalia Production – France – 2010
Frédérique and Jan have a common point. They maintain, one in France and the other in Ireland, an intense and affective relationship with Dony and Dusty, solitary ambassador dolphins. However, their relationships differ. Frédérique has an intuitive approach and shares a kind of connection with her dolphin. Jan is more in a behavioral approach, trying to understand his dolphin as a living being.
SELVA, THE FOREST UNDER THE TROPICS
Marie-Anne Bertin and Sylvain Lefebvre – Exode Tropical – France – 2012
With backpacks and a bit of money, Marie and Sylvain leave France for two years to immerse themselves in the tropical forests of the New World.
From Mexico to Ecuador, via Guatemala and Costa Rica, the jungle engulfs these two young naturalists and reveals its riches, making this ecosystem the largest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth, a biological paradise where nature has indulged its imagination.
SHERKAN, THE EAGLE OF MONT-BLANC
Production and realization Jacques Olivier Travers – France 2011
In 2006, Jacques Olivier, passionate about fishing eagles, embarked on a somewhat crazy bet: to invent a flight training method for adult birds born in captivity and never taken out of their aviary. He decides to teach them with the paragliding method. These birds have never flown, but neither has the teacher! An adventure that will lead Jacques-Olivier and Sherkan to Mont Blanc, in the greatest complicity.
5:15 PM Film competition results
MAKAY, ADVENTURERS OF THE LOST WORLD
Pierre STINE and Evrard WENDEBAUM – Stéph. MILLIERE – Gédéon Program, Canal +– 2011
In 2007, Evrard Wendenbaum penetrated several kilometers into a very difficult-to-access site: the Makay massif, in southeastern Madagascar. Facing a genuine and monumental labyrinth of canyons hundreds of meters deep, he had to quickly turn back. Three years later, the adventurer goes back with a multidisciplinary team of international scientists. The film recounts this unique experience of immersion and adventure in the heart of this lost world with its fantastic scenery.
Adventurer and filmmaker Evrard WENDEBAUM will exchange with the public and present Naturevolution, an environmental association he created with Emeric Mourot as part of the Makay Nature project. The association works to preserve biodiversity and enhance knowledge of living organisms in the most inaccessible regions of our planet.
