Fire of Love: a volcanic romance

Katia and Maurice Krafft loved two things — each other and volcanoes. For two decades, the daring French volcanologist couple roamed the planet, chasing eruptions and documenting their discoveries. Ultimately, they left a legacy that forever enriched our knowledge of the natural world.

FIRE OF LOVE tells a story of primordial creation and destruction, following two bold explorers as they venture into the unknown, all for the sake of love.

In addition to our recent giveaway in collaboration with Fire of Love‘s distributor’s Dogwoof, we were delighted to be invited to attend a special preview in London’s Picturehouse Central of this summer’s hottest (up to 1200_^oC!) documentary exploring the life and work of one couple with a passion for each other and the power of the natural world.

What makes the Earth’s heart beat, it’s blood flow?

Fire of Love explores themes of passion, fear, curiosity and community through two scientists dream to know more about the world than was previously known. What makes Katia and Maurice such excellent scientists and storytellers is their keen and honest observation skills. Their unique footage is some of the only visual record of volcanic eruptions from an era now surpassed by technological solutions and remote sensing advances.

Katia and Maurice met at the University of Strasbourg; Katia was known as a careful and diligent geochemist and Maurice a bounding field volcanologist. They travelled extensively around the world together photographing and filming volcanic eruptions as a means of creating a visual record of the world they found enchanting and fascinating. This record is one of the most rich archives of volcanic observations ever made, with over 300 of the worlds 500 active volcanoes visited by the pair during their time on Earth.

Katia and Maurice proved that curiosity can be stronger than fear. Their sense of wonder took them to some of the most jaw-dropping scenes, most remote locations, and to some of the most dangerous situations people can imagine. However, the couple were calculated and pragmatic – always careful to calculate, assess and balance risks to ensure each other’s safety and ultimately more trips to observe more volcanos!

They had clear and aligned priorities that brought them together, and kept them moving together towards the same thing all their lives. That thing was quite simply volcanoes.

If I could eat rocks, I’d stay on the volcanoes and never come down. 

Maurice Krafft, Volcanologist, dedicated rock-chomping enthusiast

Maurice Krafft rebukes the value of traditional classification systems when describing volcanoes – instead explaining that each one had a heart, a personality and a temperament – just like humans. It’s this alternate world view that the Krafft’s subscribe to, that on first hearing makes them stand out from the crowd, however to most geoscientists perhaps this idea isn’t so alternative. I’ve spoken with countless geoscientists who can point to an emotional, personal or sincere connection with the natural world that drives them to continue in the profession. It’s this passion that makes geoscience such an all or nothing subject for so many. Katia and Maurice were textbook examples of this.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the documentary were the soundscapes created to accompany the footage Katia and Maurice had collected of volcanic eruptions from all over the world. The team completely built the sound for each shot from scratch, with one 1977 eruption even featuring dinosaur sounds! This kind of creativity the team brought to the film makes it stand out from your run of the mill science documentary in a way that is emotive, touching and hard-hitting – whilst still being jam packed full of the most incredible lava-porn I have ever seen.

Director, Sara Dosa, reflected in the Q&A following the film that no matter how much her and her team researched the couple, they would never be able to ask Katia and Maurice Krafft; how it felt to stand on a lava flow; whether they felt fulfilled by their work; if they ever worked through fear or only observed in awe? This described so clearly for me how it feels to be a geologist; observing, documenting, and inferring from the rock record – never able to ask the rocks; what was it like; why are you here; where have you been? Existing in a respectful state of wonder, curiosity and admiration for the unknown.

Don’t miss it in cinemas from 29^th July. Discover more and find showtimes at fireoflovefilm.com!