Antoine Cottet directed 2020 WMFF features “Pamir to Karakoram- cycling the world’s highest roads”. We asked them a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:
What is in your gear bag/kit?
We were recently robbed whilst cycling through Tanzania just before Christmas, so the contents of my gear bag will be changing for the next trip. For Pamir to Karakoram, however, I used a Canon 5D Mark IV camera with a Manfrotto Be Free tripod for all the static time lapses and many of the frames where Clare and I are both visible. We managed to get our hands on the then newly-released OsmoPocket and a lot of the the footage whilst cycling and the time lapses with…
What item can you not live without?
The DJI Osmo Pocket. It is the most polyvalent object in my gear bag by a long way. The image quality is amazing for such a small camera and the stabilisation means we can use it to get great footage whilst walking and cycling. It is also really small so it means we can film discreetly without it feeling invasive for the people around us. The sound quality is also pretty top notch which is an added bonus.
How do you choose music for your films?
For us the music is really important in portraying the spirit of the countries we travel through to our audience. We tried to find music that is traditional to those countries that we travelled through and also that reflects the energy and rhythm of the section of film where it features.
Who has been most influential in your directing career?
Our film was influenced by the ski-mountaineering documentary Zabardast. We first saw this film in a film festival in Chamonix and for us it captured the whole spirit of the adventure so perfectly. With our own film, though it is obviously a very different adventure (and film budget!) we tried to capture the experiences we were living in the same authentic way they were portrayed in Zabardast.
More About Antoine Cottet
We are a Scottish/French couple who are always on the lookout for our next adventure. This trip combined our love of cycling, mountains, remote places, and interacting with people. We knew this was a once in a lifetime journey (or so we thought…), and so Antoine, a passionate photographer already, decided it was time to take on the challenge of making his first film. All of the footage was shot by Antoine (or by me under his direction) and he was also heavily involved in the post-production process.
