Documentary journalist Emanuele Confortin is creating a series of stories for the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, intertwining a presentation of the beauty and geological value of the Dolomites with historic and contemporary accounts of human relationships with these mountains. This project involves retracing several famous and lesser-known routes with alpinists, guides, geologists, artists and mountain-hut managers.
Value of the World Heritage Site and authenticity in people’s relationship with the Dolomites
Those who first recognised the great beauty of the Dolomites were the same people who immediately reached out to touch them, feel them and experience them, extending fingers, hands, legs and feet, squeezing themselves into cracks and corners and pressing themselves into gulleys and against vertical faces to hear the voice of the mountains and let it echo through their being.
“Alpinists, with their passion for the peaks of the Dolomites, offer the clearest testament to the magnetism of these mountains, rooted in the beauty and geological and geomorphological value of their landscapes,” explains the Director of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, Mara Nemela. “This unique nature will be explored across nine documentaries imagined by director Emanuele Confrotin. The UNESCO Dolomites Foundation has embraced this project, confident that the values determining inclusion of the Dolomites in the World Heritage List will find authentic representation through the human accounts that have marked the history of mountaineering in the Dolomites.”
Inhabited faces
The docuseries will feature nine episodes, each focusing on a different route and a different tale. How so? We asked director, Emanuele Confortin, previous winner of the Public Award for Best Mountaineering Film – Rotari at the 2023 Trento Film Festival with L’ultima via di Riccardo Bee (The last climb of Riccardo Bee):
“The Dolomites are geologically unique and my aim is to document the humans who engage with these extraordinary mountains, capturing the effort, exertion and irony that emerge, particularly in critical moments, perhaps driven by the instinct of self-preservation. In addition to images showing the incredible beauty of the Dolomites, I attempt to offer a personal interpretation, helping to develop greater awareness, through stories beginning a century ago (like that of Emilio Comici) and through contemporary voices.”
Identifying the nine routes wasn’t easy and the goals could also change due to objective conditions. Can we mention a couple of the routes that have already been retraced and filmed?
“Retracing the routes, we are always working with alpinist Luca Vallata. He helped us to study and identify the various routes, which include the via Gherbaz on Croda Cimoliana (Friulian Dolomites Natural Park), where we were also accompanied by Ivan Da Rios, manager of the Pordenone mountain hut. Then we climbed the Mugoni peak, retracing the full route of Eisenstecken, together with local guide, Samuel Zeni.”
OK, that’s enough. We don’t want to give too many spoilers! The narration also touches on certain recurring themes. Tell us about these…
“There is always some geological background about the mountain group we find ourselves in, provided by Emiliano Oddone, and an artistic interpretation by Luigi Dal Re, with his extraordinary pencil drawings of the peaks.”
And other local “narrators” are involved from film to film, including mountain-hut managers…
“Absolutely. The films also feature other mountaineers, with a prevalence of female figures as we go forward, demonstrating how women are increasingly central to mountaineering.”
Where did the idea come from?
“I have been enchanted by the Dolomites since I was a child, and I soon fell in love, not only with mountaineering, but also with tales of the relationship between people and the mountains, a story rooted in the admiration and passion that has gripped, and sometimes overwhelmed, its protagonists. Seeking lesser-known routes has led me to understand that these rocks have a deep presence, a soul infused with the passage of men and women and the emotions of those who have lived there.”