The audiovisual producer will present the short film “The Real” about Dmitry Poff, who, after a genetic test, has dedicated himself to traveling and raising awareness of this pathology. For Dallain, “art is the best way to communicate what matters to the public.”
The present is perhaps the least precious moment in today’s society, with anxiety about what’s to come, longing for where one wants to go, but also nostalgia for what has already happened. However, the present is the only thing we have with every second. What we do with it and how to enjoy a journey that doesn’t always live up to our expectations is the big challenge we face today to feel alive.
what happened with Dmitry Poffe, a young man from the north of France who, after undergoing a genetic test, was informed that he was a positive gene carrier for Huntington’s disease, a rare hereditary disease that causes a progressive degradation of nerve cells in the brain, resulting in movement, cognitive as well as mental disorders . There is no cure, although there are options to relieve the symptoms, which usually appear in your 30s and 40s, although in some cases they appear in your 20s. Tests have shown that Dimitri will develop these symptoms between ages. 35 and 40 years old. And when it came time to decide what to do with his gift, he didn’t hesitate: quit his job at the bank, sold everything and went on a solo bike tour through Latin America with the idea of visiting patient associations, raising awareness, raising funds and filling his present with the immensity of his nature. . This is how his project Explore for Huntington was born.
But halfway, it was in Colombia that fate prepared another surprise for him: a meeting with an old acquaintance, a producer of audiovisual Timothy Dallain, who is also a native of northern France, lives in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and is always on the lookout for stories. A short film was released from the union The present, a story of improvement and hope that seeks to make Huntington’s disease visible and raise awareness of how precious every minute of life is. The piece documents part of Dmitry’s 18,000-kilometer journey, and in the trailer you can see the beauty of landscapes, life and good intentions. intramedinterview Timothy Dallane, ideologue of documentary and other health-related: Adventure for everyone. Here is the story.
What was your career like before you decided to settle in Torres del Paine?
I have always been interested in filming, ever since high school. But later I developed another passion, a passion for nature, after various six-month trips to the Amazon jungle, to the remote corners of Australia, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. These travels made me feel alive. Also, I have always enjoyed telling stories to inspire people to connect with wildlife, because the only way to protect these landscapes is to love them. Although my original idea was to go to Africa when I graduated, in my senior year in France I met a Chilean woman, fell in love, went with her, and today she is my wife. After insisting a lot in Chile, I found my dream job surrounded by nature. I was hired to make content on an ongoing basis at the EcoCamp, the world’s first geodesic dome sustainable dwelling in Torres del Paine National Park. I have been there since 2014 and they have always supported videos where I aim to raise awareness of nature and the human impact of these landscapes.
What are your expectations for the documentary? The present?
We hope to give Huntington’s disease a voice it never had and hope it will be talked about outside of the Huntington community and the medical world. To achieve this, we take care of every second of this short film to make it emotional but also sensual and with a lot of wild beauty thanks to the footage we get from some of the most beautiful places on the planet. And beyond the illness, we want the audience to end up feeling grateful at the end of the documentary, wanting to spice up their lives with adventure, just like Dimitri does. With hope The present manages to bring viewers closer to the beautiful mystery that defines us as “humans” and at the same time bring them closer to the sacred beauty of nature.
How did the idea of filming come about? The present how did you meet Dmitry?
Idea to make a movie The present – An 18-minute short film that we hope will have a big impact – originated in May 2022 when I met Dimitri again, whom I once saw at a mutual friend’s party. I was told that she went on the trip to raise awareness about the disease she was diagnosed with, but I knew nothing more. Until I traveled to Medellin, Colombia in May 2022 to receive an award at the Short Film Festival. Dimitri, who followed me on the Internet, contacted me and said that he was also there. Crazy coincidence, because I was going to be there for two days, and he was for three. We decided to meet for dinner, my wife, he and I. When Dmitry told us his story, tears flowed. We find his story very inspiring because although Dimitri still has no symptoms, he has a personal history with the disease: his father died 20 years ago from this cause and his sister already has severe symptoms. But at the same time, Dmitry has a direct relationship to adventure, to the need to be surrounded by nature. His dream was very similar to mine. So I looked my wife in the eyes, and we thought: “Something needs to be done, because what Dmitry is doing is historical.” Now we needed to see how to do it. I picked it up with the travel and adventure company Cascada Expediciones, the owners of EcoCamp because they work in Patagonia and actively promote “transformational tourism”, the impact that adventure can have on a person. And this coincided with what Dmitry demonstrated outside of the disease: the need to live in the present. The sacred nature of an adventure to connect with the present and feel alive. They told us “yes” and supported this project with logistics, funding and travel coordination, which allowed this production to become what it is today.
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