Exotic Hampi: Video and Interview

[Photo] Evrard Wendenbaum

What's your best memory of the trip?

One morning we woke up very early to watch the sunrise at a special spot I noticed several days before. There, we realized we could climb an incredible, balanced, totally isolated boulder. Liv started climbing just as the sun began to shed light on the rock and the temples behind. The moment was magic. Time stopped.

Did the trip coalesce as you planned?

In Paris we experienced some problems with the Indian embassy, which lost Liv's passport and forced us to shorten our journey by five days. So we had less time to film than we wanted.

Also, the temperature was a little hot for true climbing performance. But that's to be expected in Hampi—though magical, the heat, sharpness of the rock and unavoidable stomach illnesses keep you humble. The heat forced us to shoot either very early or very late in the day, when the light changes very fast. Because of that we faced some difficulty keeping the same light or completing the filming sessions on time. However, those times of day offer the best quality of light.

What do you like most about your film?

It's difficult to say what I like best, but most impressive to me is the scenery and the atmosphere it creates. Axel, Michael and Vaibhav were also very nice to film, but they aren't in the final film, which focuses on Liv.

Do you have any epic tales from the shoot?

Nothing too wild, but it was fun to see the locals trying to figure out the point of climbing on these boulders; why they were trying the same movements so many times, most of the time falling. The cultural differences were fabulous to see.

[Photo] Evrard Wendenbaum