Another Way: A Documentary on Laying the Path in Air

Alice Rosano’s Another Way is a 15-minute documentary about a group of people grasping their way through slacklining, a sport that splits the difference between the trampoline and the tightrope, in the mountains of Egypt. Hundreds of metres high in the air, walking the sky, slackliners become the view even as they experience the view. A sun soaked, adrenaline and hope filled film, it populates itself with gorgeous landscapes, interviews, and the small and big fun of an adventure sport that is yet to fully take off.

Set in the terrain of Sinai mountain range, and against a backdrop of political and military conflict, the documentary journeys from London to Dahab—a town known for diving—to Wadi Shellal. Here, they will find and set routes of their adventure. The endless vistas allow for grand shots; the film presents many stunning images—brilliant colours, endless skies; even the beige is vibrant—infused with a sense of simultaneous wonder and steadfast gaze. In juxtaposition is the everyday world of both tourists and the residents. Tighter frames, immediate concerns. While the locals go about the routine of their settled life, the tourists deal with the same little frictions destined for every traveller: bad sleep, deceitful weather, tiredness. And bottomless enthusiasm in spite of it all.

In Um Bogma, south-west in Sinai, two men of the Aleqat tribe recount the colonial history of the place. Illustrations, until now used for maps, portray scenes of the story. The group’s project includes opening new lines here, a place abandoned after the Six-Day War with Israel. From Um Bogma, the crew heads to Matamir. And then to Saint Catherine. The same goal, driven by the same idea of building up a slacklining community in Egypt for Egyptians and the world. In Umm Al Saad, we meet Amreya Farag of the Jebeleya tribe. The pleasant gravel of Amreya’s baritone voice washes over a place she has built by hand. Her purpose is even steelier than of the slackliners: set an example for women and girls.

Every now and then, the music seems less sure of what it’s accompanying and makes up for it with fervour. The attempt, really, is to externalise something that is almost beyond the scope of the narrative: the desire to encounter your own self. It exists in parallel with other stated aims that are easier to achieve and less terrifying to experience. 

Extreme sports, though, is about the love of the terror.

Watch Another Way Documentary Trailer