Journeying into the heart of the earth is very different from what you might imagine; it may be an easy walk, or a dive underwater; it may require crawling through windy cracks, or become a hasty flight from a river in spate. Speleologists too are very different from each other. There is the explorer, the poet, the scientist and the adventurer who, when they are together, compensate their mutual inefficiencies and become a great team. Cuba is the only country in the world in which caving has received the recognition of the maximum authority of the country. Investigating this anomaly, the film questions the past of Cuban speleology and discovers the explorers of the caves were the leaders of the revolution. It also discovers that Cuba is one great cave, full of marvels and horrors, of ancient knowledge and principles that nobody wants to forget.
Director
FULVIO MARIANI
Fulvio Mariani was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland) in 1958. In 1981 he started to work as a cameraman for TSI – Swiss Italian Television. In 1985 he shot the documentary Cumbre which received many official awards. Thanks to this film, Mariani started his own business, Iceberg-Film, a production company mainly specialising in adventure documentary films. For many years he collaborated with leading figures in the climbing and mountaineering world, such as Reinhold Messner, Jerzy Kukuczka, Walter Bonatti, Hans Kammerlander, Riccardo Cassin, Mauro Corona, Stefan Glowacs and Piero Dal Pra'. In 1991 he was director of photography on the wall for the film Grido di pietra by Werner Herzog. He has collaborated with leading European Televisions channels such as ZDF, ORF, France 3, RAI and Mediaset, always shooting extreme adventure situations. In 1987 he published the book Drammi e Diaframmi. In 1994 he was director of photography for the Television series "Viva Africa and Overland" for Italian RAI. The following documentary films also received many awards: "L’uomo di legno", "La strada per Olmo Lungring and Siachen: a war for ice". He has participated in TrentoFilmfestival since the beginning of his career. He won the Silver Gentian prize with "Cumbre" (1987) and with "Cinquant’anni dopo" (1988) as well as the Golden Gentian CAI for the film "I Cavalieri delle vertigini "(2000). In 1990 he was a member of the International Jury in Trento.