This documentary gives a portrait of John Falkiner, a highly charismatic personality of the ski, cinema and above all telemark-ski world: the oldest skiing technique which Falkiner was among the first to rediscover, revisit and propose again. Falkiner, together with his great friend and telemark-ski performer, Paolo Tassi from Cortina d’Ampezzo, talks about his own life with vigour and delicate humour and takes us through the important stages of the history of skiing. The two friends take us with them on discovery trips through the beautiful landscapes of Lebanon, Patagonia, Dolomites, Etna volcano and Kashmir. John and Paolo share with us the dreams and choices that led them to give up competitions and adopt skiing as an actual lifestyle, more complete and satisfactory. The images, at times highly spectacular and full of action, at times very poetic and contemplative, make us still hope in a more true and sincere world with no generational, linguistic, territorial, ideological or religious limitations. A more human being-friendly world, where nature itself is our constant source of inspiration and enjoyment.
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.