Description
Virginie's love of the mountains began when she was a young girl, following in her father's footsteps. A filial and roped-up relationship woven of high-mountain adventures, alongside a reassuring, free-spirited and cheeky father figure, shattered in an instant by a serious paragliding accident. Deprived of her only rope companion and caught up in the whirlwind of two motherhoods, a weakened marriage and a job that no longer satisfied her, Virginie drifted away from the mountains and the ties that still bound her to her father, to the point of sinking. It's to the heights that she turns to find the strength to rise again, in the hope of rebuilding her bond with her father and finding her own path in life, finally emancipated.
This portrait is part of a series entitled 'Altitudes' which explores the many facets of the relationship between man and mountain across the world and cultures.
Director
Louise Thaller, Stanislas Giroux
Stanislas Giroux
Medical doctor by profession and video artist by passion, Stanislas has 10 years of experience in creating poetic short films, and has over 2 million views on Vimeo with over a dozen self-produced videos, also available on his website. 6 of his productions have been awarded a Vimeo Staff Picks and his work has been featured on BBC Travel, National Geographic, Canal + and Gizmodo, among others. Through short formats of 3-4 minutes, his videos focus on people and the beauty of the places he visits. He is also passionate about photography and music, artistic means of expression that feed his video projects. Stanislas lives in Annecy, where the mountains are all around and have quickly become a source of inspiration in their own right.
Louise Thaller
Aid worker by profession, amateur author and mountaineer, Louise uses her writing at the service of humanist causes and nature. A graduate of SciencesPo, she chose to devote herself to social science research in countries affected by crises and spent six years in Africa. She bears witness to the realities she observes on the ground by publishing articles in scientific journals and portraits of refugees in activist blogs. Louise is also an active member of the French Alpine Club and spends a lot of time in the mountains, where she practices climbing, ski touring, mountaineering, and trekking. Louise lives in Geneva and writes, whenever she can, texts inspired by her mountain adventures. She has been nominated for several literary prizes in French-speaking Switzerland.
