Le cinéma documentaire d'exploration et de spéléologie

Abstract

Speleology and mountaineering documentary movies The exploration documentary movies began in the early twentieth century, thanks to the pioneering role of Australian Fr. Hurley during the Odyssey of Shackleton to Antarctica in 1914-1917. Later the filmmaker M. Ichac, one of the founders of the Speleo-Club de Paris, has launched the mountain documentary movie with Karakorum in 1936, and the caving movie in 1943 with Sondeurs d'abîmes made in Vercors. In 1956 G. Marry films the exploration of the gouffre Berger, the first -1000 (Siphon -1 122). In 1967, the English filmmaker Sid Pérou produces for BBC Sunday at Sunset Spot, a dramatic rescue caving movie. In France, after Trente heures pour réussir (1975), M. Luquet launchs the International Caving Film Festival in La Chapelle en Vercors in 1977, which will then be directed during twelve years by J. Lamberton until 1989. The first documentary-fiction caving movie, Les Cascades de la Nuit, was produced by A. Baptizet in 1976. From 1978 to 1990, the growth of speleological movie is remarkable and the french TV (Antenne 2) broadcasts caving movies once per month in the Carnets de l'Aventure. In France, L.-H. Fage plays a significant role in the decades 1990-2000 with several exploration movies as La Mémoire des Brumes (1992), Mille mètres sous la Jungle (1995), À travers la Pierre (2005). Today, the future for caving movie is very fragile and narrow because of the strong concurrence of the extreme adventure movie as Latitude Zero by Mike Horn.