a 4k 52’ directed by roberto rinaldi produced by
TRANSCRIPT
A 4K documentary of 52’
Directed by Gil Kebaïli & Roberto Rinaldi Produced by Les Gens Biens Productions
A Gombessa expedition with Laurent Ballesta
Written by Pierre de Parscau
Based on an idea of Roberto Rinaldi
LOGLINE
From the north of Sicily to the Bay of Naples, a scientific expedition led by the Italian vulcanologist Francesco Italiano and Laurent Ballesta's team of divers specialized in deep diving will study volcanoes by exploring the seabed buried more than 100m below the surface. On the sunken slopes of the Mediterranean Sea, they will probe these territories in an attempt to discover clues about the workings of these mountains of fire hidden beneath the surface, encountering rare and secret ecosystems and sources of energy that were previously inaccessible.
An unprecedented adventure to discover a world almost unknown and yet so close to human populations that could allow science to anticipate the awakening of volcanoes among the most threatening in the world.
SUMMARY
Men and volcanoes have shared a common destiny since the first ages of mankind. Fertile, the slopes of these mountains of fire can also be deadly. The Italian peninsula has memories of deadly eruptions that could occur in the years to come. Volcanic activity seems to be increasing in some areas and scientists are not yet able to predict with any accuracy when these ominous volcanoes will awaken. Does the deep-sea world hold new keys to understanding volcanic activity?
Today, 75% of volcanic activity takes place below the surface, and science has little data on these phenomena at such depths.
Director of the expedition, the vulcanologist Francesco Italiano has assembled a multidisciplinary team of vulcanologists, geologists and biologists to explore sites previously inaccessible to man. Accompanied by Roberto Davanaro, an abyss specialist, and a team of deep divers led by Laurent Ballesta, a photographer and marine biologist, they are going to focus on three major volcanic sites in the Mediterranean: Panarea, Stromboli and Vesuvius. These are volcanoes with very distinct characteristics, where men continue to live in the surroundings, out of necessity and carelessness. Nearly 100 meters below the surface, the divers will venture into unknown territories in search of answers and deploy instruments to tap into these areas.
Le feu de la Mer Méditerranée / p 3
SUMMARY
The robots that can be deployed on these distant and dangerous bottoms do not have the human dexterity. Divers will be able to use all their senses to orient themselves, collect and explore these sites. To collect gases, species and fluids that are essential to the knowledge of this very special marine environment, the human hand remains irreplaceable. These divers will lay the foundations for future permanent underwater monitoring stations.
How could marine life develop in the extreme conditions of the volcanic depths and does the activity of the volcanoes at sea influence the activity on the surface? ?
This scientific and human adventure should make it possible to collect precious data that will feed the research of vulcanologists in the years to come. It also offers the opportunity to discover unique underwater landscapes populated by sea fans, carnivorous sponges and reddish chimneys.
By diving to the center of the earth, this mission will allow us to go back in time to distant geological ages.
Panarea
Le feu de la Mer Méditerranée / p 26
THE PROTAGONISTS
FRANCO ITALIANO volcanologist
LAURENT BALLESTA underwater
photographer and marine biologist
FRANCESCO TIBONI archaeologist
GOMBESSA
The diving team
ROBERTO DANOVARO zoologist specialist of the
abysses
ROBERTO RINALDI author, diver and
underwater cameraman
Le feu de la Mer Méditerranée / p 28
PROJECT NOTE
The story of this film was born from the need to tell the heart of the Mediterranean. This magical and wonderful corner of the sea, dotted with rocky coasts, volcanic islands, artistic and architectural works. It is here that a modern and living culture was born. In the immensity of the world, in the immutability of the mountains, volcanoes have always attracted Mankind. Because a monster is attractive in itself, because it was impossible to give an explanation that did not refer to mythology. Attraction and repulsion, to life and death. Laurent Ballesta is a great explorer of our time. A man of science still capable of surrendering to the charm of beauty, of becoming enthusiastic about the spectacle of nature. This expedition is a journey to the conquest of new landscapes. A valley of two hundred volcanoes off the coast of Panarea could be the proof that the islands are all daughters of the same volcano, fed by the same magma chamber. We could also discover new bacteria or new ecosystems that exist only in the depths of the ocean. For Laurent, it is an exciting place, immense, unexpected in this Mediterranean that he knows so well.
No one has ever ventured there, no one has ever crossed this black, dark and thick mud, no one has dared to approach this abyss. And yet, we are only a few meters away from the second biggest city of Italy. And we are about to explore a place where no human being has ever set foot.
Laurent will not be looking for a unique creature - like a coelacanth - but he knows that he will be in a corner of the planet where he might discover an unknown community, a new and unique ecosystem. The uniqueness, the discovery, the exploration within a meter away from civilization is what this film is all about.
Le feu de la Mer Méditerranée / p 29
Je travaille depuis près de 20 ans avec Laurent Ballesta et encore plus avec Roberto Rinaldi. C’est dire si je les connais bien et combien j’aime les accompagner dans leur quête sous-ma- rine. Entre nous trois, il y a une complicité qui permet au réalisateur que je suis d’aller puiser au cœur de leur personnalité. Cela m’aide à dégager un petit supplément d’âme aux dispositifs souvent techniques et pointus de la plongée extrême.
Entre l’accent italien de Roberto, qui parle très bien le français, et celui du sud de Laurent, c’est presque toute la Méditerranée qui s’exprime. Ils sont les meilleurs ambassadeurs pour nous raconter cette fabuleuse histoire des volcans sous la mer.
On les connait ces îles Éoliennes… Peu de gens ont eu la chance d’y aller, des milliers rêvent d’y faire le voyage. Moi le premier!
D’abord parce que j’adore les volcans, j’en ai filmé beaucoup à travers le monde : du Kamtchatka à l’Éthiopie en passant par Hawaii et même Mars avec son mont Olympus que j’ai traité dans un de mes documentaires. A chaque fois, c’est une claque que je prends qui me remet à ma juste place sur la planète qui m’héberge. Un volcan actif, explosif qui plus est, vous fait taire bouche bée… Une deuxième explosion et on reprend conscience: celle de notre insignifiante existence, puis à la troisième... on regarde ses pieds et on ose à peine imaginer ce qu’il y a dessous. La Méditerranée nous semble apprivoisée tellement elle a été sillonnée par les hommes de- puis des millénaires. Alors même que l’on croyait que la Terre était plate, ses côtes et ses îles étaient parfaitement dessinées sur des cartes que l’on nommait « des portulans ». Pourtant, il n’y a rien de moins apprivoisé qu’un volcan sur cette mer capricieuse. Ce paradoxe entre une Méditerranée que l’on croit connaître, proche des côtes et des villes, et ces forces telluriques indomptées attise mon envie de raconter cette belle histoire naturelle, d’autant plus qu’elle est guidée par une attachante aventure humaine. Raconter cette histoire tellurique de la Méditerranée! Les cratères émergés ne sont qu’une ridicule partie du gigantesque processus géologique. Certes, on ne va pas se priver de leur beauté éclatante, mais nous voulons aussi, et surtout, nous glisser au plus près de la forge de Vulcain, là où personne ne s’est jamais aventuré.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Gil Kebaïli has been working for nearly 20 years with Laurent Ballesta and even more with Roberto Rinaldi. Between the three of them, there is a complicity that allows the director to dig deep into their personalities. This allows the director to add a little extra soul to the often technical and precise devices of extreme diving. Between Roberto's Italian accent, who speaks French very well, and Laurent's southern accent, it's almost all of the Mediterranean that is expressed. They are the best ambassadors to tell us this fabulous story of the volcanoes under the sea.
Gil Kebaïli has experience in filming volcanoes: from Kamchatka to Ethiopia, including Hawaii and even Mars with its Mount Olympus. Telling this telluric story of the Mediterranean: the emerged craters are only a ridiculous part of the gigantic geological process. Of course, we will not deprive ourselves of their stunning beauty, but we also and above all want, to slip as close as possible to the forge of Vulcan, where no one has ever ventured. Without rising to the level of Homer's poems that captivate the Mediterranean with their legends, there is probably a beautiful speech to be held between fantasy and science.
Laurent Ballesta and Roberto Rinaldi will be the eyes and arms of science at the service of Italian researchers, who wish to explore and monitor the roots of these fire monsters at depths never before reached.
Laurent will narrate the film in voice-over, in addition to interviews with all the protagonists of the adventure.
THE AUTHORS ROBERTO RINALDI
There is no need to go through the curriculum of this experienced diver to understand what brings him and Laurent Bal-lesta together. However, in order to understand why they wanted to collaborate on this film, it is necessary to look at their personal history and their similarities. For more than 10 years, Roberto travelled the globe with Captain Cousteau. He filmed in all the oceans. Thanks to his unprecedented dives, Roberto is aware of recent scientific discoveries and beyond his experience, he has always wanted to collaborate with researchers in order to share his findings.This is how he dives into the heart of science, actively participating in its advances. Today, the story that drives him is more intimate: it is that of the origin of Civilization in connection with his native land, Italy. And this story, he also wants to share it. This is why he had the idea of bringing together an Italian multidisciplinary team and the Andromeda Oceanography team with which he regularly associates, thus combining research and exploration. These two elements are essential to implement an expedition marked by the audacity necessary for any scientific discovery. This film is the result of the desire to show the unusual dives that led Roberto to discover places unknown to researchers, and to share them with a fellow diver, Laurent Ballesta.
PIERRE DE PARSCAU
A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle, Pierre first worked as an assistant director on feature film sets before devoting himself to documentaries. Passionate about travel and adventure, he has worked on projects with the Sikhs in Northern India, the Crow people in the United States and protectors of leatherback turtles in Guyana. In 2015 he became a crew member of the TARA expeditions which will lead him from the Faroe Islands to Greenland and then across the Pacific. This last adventure called TARA Pacific is told in two documentaries made for France Télévisions. He regularly collaborates with the CNRS, Le Monde and Ushuaia TV.
ISABELLE MONTEILSales Manager
Asia, Oceania, Greece, Africa language versions
FLORENCE SALAHead of
International [email protected]
Italy & USA
SOPHIE SOGHOMONIANSales Manager
Eastern Europe, Israel, Russia, worldwide non-theatrical
rights
AUDREY KAMGASales Manager
South-America, Canada, Spain, Ireland, MENA region, Portugal &
UK worldwide inflight
FRANKA SCHWABESales Manager
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France,
Netherlands, Scandinavia, Iceland