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The Business

‘Fire of Love’ filmmaker explores the work devotion of two volcanologists

The Business

KCRW

Tv & Film

4.6676 Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Filmmaker Sara Dosa’s childhood fascination and fear of volcanoes shaped her career. While finishing her last film “The Seer and the Unseen” about an Icelandic woman fighting to save a lava field from becoming a road, she came across archival footage from Katia and Maurice Krafft, the renowned French volcanologists. “They had shot hundreds of hours of footage, and Iceland was one of their absolute favorite places, so they did have extraordinary images of volcanoes,” she says. The scientist couple were killed in a pyroclastic blast at Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991. And though the documentarian doesn’t remember their tragic deaths, she and her team became transfixed by the duo. “Once we learned more about them as people, both as these unique, idiosyncratic, hilarious, and philosophical individuals [who had] this extraordinary life where they chased erupting volcanoes all around the world, we thought, this is a world we want to dwell in.” Dosa pieces together their imagery to make “Fire of Love.” It is an homage to the French couple, their love for each other, and devotion and fearlessness to studying volcanoes – a job that ultimately led to their deaths. The film also explores the Kraffts’ travels, writings, and lectures on the beauty and dangers of molten lava and blasts of hot gasses, and their ability to document and share their findings with a wide audience. But first, Hollywood media and tech moguls reconvene in Sun Valley Idaho this week, where large deals used to be brokered, but are now less likely.

Transcript

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0:00.0

From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is The Business.

0:06.2

Fire of Love is a tender ode to Maurice and Katya Craft, the Alsatian French couple who spent decades traveling the world, filming, writing, and lecturing on the beauty and dangers of molten lava and blasts of hot gases.

0:23.1

In her new documentary, Fire of Love,

0:28.4

director Sarah Dosa tells us about using hours of the craft's footage to tell the story of the renowned pair and how she thinks they dealt with taking ever greater risks in pursuit of their

0:33.5

shared passion. I am sure that they still had moments of fear, but they learned how to be

0:38.4

in relationship with fear, I think, in a profoundly different way than a lot of people who don't

0:43.0

encounter such danger on a daily basis the way that they did. Dosa shares how the couple

0:47.5

embraced the spirit of adventure and ultimately gave their lives, chasing the mysteries of volcanoes.

0:53.8

But first, we banter. Stick around. It's the

0:56.0

business from KCRW. I'm joined by my associate in banter, Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt. Hi there.

1:05.6

So, Matt, as you know, the moguls are gathering in Sun Valley. They are all there, both Bob Iger and Bob Chepic,

1:12.9

which is, you know, I know as a matter of course, Herbert Allen and Herbert Allen Jr. and all the

1:19.3

Herbert Allen's who are involved in sponsoring this annual conference of moguls, they invite people

1:25.0

even when they're for a period after they're no longer in the job.

1:28.5

But, you know, and Iger is still, you know, investing and doing things.

1:32.0

But people are going to be watching that among other things because, as well known, there's

1:36.6

awkwardness between the two.

1:38.1

But of course, tons of other people are there saying there are things that reporters stand

1:43.3

there and try to parse and

1:44.6

figure out if there's a deal in the making. This historically has been a place where huge

1:48.5

deals have emerged, not so much in recent years, but in the past. I want to say, if these people

1:54.0

make a big deal, I'm warning them. Don't do it because it has been so busy. There has been

...

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