“In this world lived a fire, and in this fire, two lovers found a home,” whispers Miranda July prophetically in the first trailer for Fire of Love. An all-archival masterpiece, which graces the cover of our current issue, Fire of Love gets its first trailer ahead of its theatrical release. The film directed by Sara Dosa and produced by Dosa, Shane Boris, and Ina Fichman has enjoyed a magma-hot run on the festival circuit. Fire of Love debuted as opening night selection of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it went on to win a jury prize, but the film arguably showed its might at subsequent festivals like Hot Docs where audiences got to see it on the big screen.
The film is a tale of love and volcanoes as Dosa recounts the exploits of daring researchers Maurice and Katia Krafft. Their adventures peering into the steaming hot crevasses of volcanoes inspired some formative and life-saving research in the field of volcanology. Edited by Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput, Fire of Love draws upon a strikingly cinematic body of visual research the Kraffts documented amid their expeditions. Their work is to volcanoes what Jacques Cousteau’s was to oceans.
In theatres July 7
“It can’t be overemphasised how majestic some of the footage is, too,” wrote Jason Gorber while reviewing Fire of Love at Sundance. “While hardly diving deep into the science of volcanology, Fire of Love doesn’t shy away from diving into some of the more esoteric elements of the discipline. It’s clear that the Kraffts set out to be communicators above all, and when tens of thousands are killed because of ignored warnings, the film offers a reminder of both the limitations of their work’s effect, but also the impulse to educate others that continued to drive them until the end.”
Fire of Love is no tragic love story, however, even though it signals the fates of the Kraffts’ from the outset. This is a smart and eclectic tale about pursuing one’s passion until the very end. Although their fatalistic pursuit of knowledge is a cautionary tale about learning the power of the Earth’s natural forces, Dosa finds in the Kraffts’ relentless curiosity a timely fable about the value of science, and the dance we do between scientific and poetic truths.
The film will be premiere theatrically by Neon and National Geographic in the USA on July 7, followed by a streaming release on Disney+ later in the year. It’s the hottest love story you’ll ever see.
Watch the first trailer for Fire of Love and read more about it in the new issue of POV.
