The Nahanni Whisperer

Four young climbers dream of climbing the Lotus Flower Tower, a legendary big wall, somewhere in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in the furthest outreaches of Northern Canada.

For 800 m of climbing, they will have to face 550 km of dangerous Nahanni river over a whole month of total independence.

Given that they have only limited experience in this type of adventure, they persuade Dom, a seasoned traveller 33 years their senior, to help them get this expedition off the ground.

Whereas Dom will be fulfilling his teenage dream of riding the Nahanni rapids, he is also about to realise that the Lotus Flower will be his last ‘Big Wall’ climb.

A poetic and fun adventure of passing the baton between generations, a point where the dream becomes reality.

  • Dominique Snyers
    Director
  • Philippe Sellier (triangle7.com)
    Producer
  • Sabine Hubeaux
    Video Edition
  • Pierre Bruyns, Blue Nuit Studio
    Sound Edition
  • Stephan Higelin
    Color Grading
  • Stabat Mater composed by Marco Rosano
    Music
    (Courtesy of Marco Rosano)
  • Loss Of Life composed by Paul Englishby
    Music
    (Published by Chappel Recordeded Music Library Ltd)
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Le passeur de la Nahanni
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Sport, adventure, Climbing, Packrafting, Wilderness Exploration
  • Runtime:
    53 minutes 2 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 17, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Belgium
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 2018 Best Foreign Film Award, Mountain Film Festival, Mammoth Lakes, CA, USA
    Mammoth
    United States
    http://mountainfilmfestival.com/2018-winners
    Best Foreign Film
  • Finalist, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    February 12, 2018
    North America Premiere
  • 2017 Grand Public Choice Award, Brussels International Travel and Adventure Film Festival
    Brussels
    Belgium
    December 9, 2017
    Grand Public Choice Award
  • International Adventure Fill Festival in La Rochelle, France
    La Rochelle
    France
    November 18, 2017
  • Festival gorniškega filma
    Domžale
    Slovenia
    March 27, 2018
  • Killarney Mountain Festival
    Killarney
    Ireland
    March 10, 2018
    Official Selection
  • Festival Ecrans de l'Aventures, Dijon, France
    Dijon
    France
    October 5, 2017
  • 9ème Rencontres Ciné Montagne in Grenoble, France
    Grenoble
    France
    November 9, 2017
  • Festival Quai du Départ, Lyon, France
    Lyon
    France
    November 25, 2017
  • Irish Adventure Film Club
    Westport
    Ireland
    April 11, 2018
    Official Selection
  • EPFL's Mountain film Festival, Lausanne, Switzerland
    Lausanne
    Switzerland
    November 28, 2017
  • Rendez-vous de l’Aventure, Lons-le-Saunier, France
    Lons-le-Saunier
    France
    March 15, 2018
Director Biography - Dominique Snyers

Dom studied engineering at UC Leuven in Belgium and Stanford University in California. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Caen, France.

A former university professor and founder of various digital start-ups, Dominique also founded the Cap Expé association, a community of adventurers formed to encourage them to live their boldest dreams in total autonomy. He has accompanied many young people in their discovery of the great horizontal and vertical wilderness.

More recently, he has begun making films about these adventures, as another extension of his passion for teaching and sharing. His first three films, The Nahanni Whisperer, Altaitude and Loic and the Floloppys, have received several awards and have been screened in many international adventure film festivals.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

We live in an increasingly virtual world, in which everything has to happen faster and faster. I am convinced that adventure sports can act as an antidote. By inventing an adventure for ourselves, we can take control of the reins of our lives again, providing we keep to certain rules.

My greatest joy is to help very younger people to get over the stage of doing crazy stuff with their friends, or the sporting challenges that they set themselves, and for them to open up to the silence and the rhythm of walking, to the paddling or the glide of the skis in these wide open spaces. That is where they discover their own inner music, and who they really are. That is where they take their masks off, and this triggers a different and more exciting way of relating to others.

At the same time, what I like most of all is to transfer knowledge, and to make these young adventurers, female and male, independent in risk management, which is necessary on these types of adventures.

Making movies is for me a way of sharing this vision with a larger public.

For other films see www. altaitude.com and flolopapys.com