"The Eight Mountains" where an extraordinary friendship is sealed

• Two childhood friends reunite after a long separation in “The Eight Mountains”.

• The director of “Alabama Monroe” and “Belgica” describes the fusional relationship that unites this Italian city dweller and this Italian peasant.

• Supported by co-director Charlotte Vandermeersch, he adapted a bestseller by Paolo Cognetti for this exotic adventure that won an award at Cannes.

It was with four hands that Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen wrote and directed

based on Paolo Cognetti's bestseller published by Stock.

The lifelong friendship story of two men embodied by Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi takes the viewer to magical landscapes in Italy and Nepal.

At the Cannes Film Festival, Vincent Lindon and his jurors gave a jury prize to this breath of fresh air whose duration of two and a half hours passes like a breeze.

The two heroes met as children in the mountains of Valle d'Aosta.

One is a city dweller, the other a peasant.

The first studies and travels the world.

The second remains on site to continue making cheeses as his father did.

“They have this wild region in common, explains Felix Van Groeningen to

But they have more than that.

Their bonds are so strong that they won't break when they become adults.

»

Far from the madness of the world

The Flemish director, noticed with

(2013) and

(2016), produced this work with four hands with co-screenwriter Charlotte Vandermeersch, his companion in the city, who had also co-written

.

“This film involved shooting in wild places, explains the latter.

It was a real adventure.

We even had to learn Italian to be able to communicate with the team and stay true to the book.

»

The restoration of a chalet in the middle of nature reinforces the intimacy between heroes who wonder about their choices.

“Do you know life better when you have traveled or when you have stayed in your village?

That's one of the questions the film asks,” says Felix Van Groeningen.

Separated by their decisions and then reunited again, the two friends live a fusional relationship that finds its place in the heart of an untamed region.

“Each feeds the other with their experience,” explains Charlotte Vandermeersch.

Each encounter enriches them.

»

Between the man rooted in his region and the one who feels the call of the open sea, between the rat of the fields and the rat of the cities, a bond has developed over the decades.

The spectator, amazed by the beauty of the images of Ruben Impens and the music by Daniel Norgren, shares beautiful moments in their company, far from the follies of the world.

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