La Paralpine

I loaded up my plate with three different salads and something well-cooked from the grill and squeezed myself into a spot on an outdoor bench on a big table with about 10 other pilots. It was the BGD team barbecue at the Coupe Icare last year and I was there as a guest. Around me the buzz was of hike-and-fly that morning, flights flown that season and travel plans for the autumn ahead. 

On my right was a young blonde-haired pilot in a yellow hoody. “This is Guillaume Funck”, someone said, “he just won the main prize at the film festival!” It turned out Belgium-born Guillaume, then 26, had flown from Slovenia to Nice in France on his first vol-bivouac, flying an EN-B. Along the way he teamed up with friends to climb six major Alpine routes. And then he made a 52-minute film of it all, which completely won over the jury and audience of the Icare du Cinema film festival that weekend. 

After congratulating him I pulled out my phone to record an interview – after all, it is not every day you meet an award-winning first-time filmmaker over the mixed-bean salad. Guillaume, I said…

Tell us about your film

The trip was a month and a half. I started from...