Kanalschwimmer
Kanalschwimmer or Solo Swim (movie) is a swimming film documentary that follows three open water swimmers in their attempt to swim across the English Channel: Jose Mataafá from Samoa, 60-year-old Canadian Bryan Finlay and German elite open water swimmer Christof Wandratsch, the former English Channel record holder. It was original broadcast on German television channel ZDF.
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Synopsis
Between Dover and Calais, the English Channel is 33 kilometers long and crossed by 500 ships a day. It is also considered as the Mount Everest of long-distance swimmers. Six thousand have attempted it; only about 600 have made it across – an exclusive club. In this fascinating documentary, filmmaker Jörg Adolph follows three Channel swimmers as they undertake one of the greatest physical and mental challenges in the world. While the Samoan José Mataafá overestimates his strength and fails lamentably, the Canadian Bryan Finlay, nearly 60, has to break off his venture after 21 hours in the water and within view of the French coast. Undaunted, German two-time European champion Christof Wandratsch aims to break the previous record of 7 hours and 17 minutes. He's been training mercilessly and brings the necessary discipline and willpower – but will he realize his dream? Adolph and his cinematographer Luigi Falorni (director/cameraman of Oscar-nominated The Story of the Weeping Camel) vividly evoke the loneliness of the long-distance swimmer in a stretch of water that is nothing less than mythical.
Awards
- 2005 Deutscher Fernsehpreis
- 2005 Baden-Württembergischer Dokumentarfilmpreis
Festivals
- 2005 New Zealand International Filmfestivals
- 2004 DOK.fest Munich
