Nat Geo Documentary ‘Fly,’ Exploring the World of Base Jumping, Unveils First Clip (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comAddie Morfoot Contributor A first clip has been unveiled from Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau’s Nat Geo documentary “Fly,” which will screen at Hot Docs on Sunday.
The doc follows three couples entwined in the world of base jumping, one of the world’s deadliest sports. Schwarz and Clusiauoree began working on “Fly” for seven years following the death of well-known climber Dean Potter, who lost his life while base jumping at Yosemite National Park. “We were intrigued by these people who wanted to jump off cliffs with parachutes and wondered about their motivations,” says Schwartz. “We had this idea that maybe (base jumpers) are part of this crazy, reckless death cult or are empty adrenaline seekers, but we quickly found out how amazing they were and how full of life they were.
That’s when we started filming.” The directors chose to follow three couples: Jimmy and Marta, affectionately known as the “Mom and Pop” of base jumping; wingsuit pilot Scotty and his newfound love, Julia; and Amber and Espen, whose bond is tested by triumph and tragedy. “With this project there was no clear narrative arc from the outset,” says Clusiau.” We entered this community and met characters as we went along.
We met Jimmy and Marta first and they introduced us to others in the (base jumping) community. Initially the film was much more set around this culture and community and then we realized that an interesting aspect is that a lot of our characters were also jumping with their wives and girlfriends.
Read more on variety.com