Hegyizene

Balázs Szendőfi's nature documentary about the Apuseni Mountains explores an area where many regions are still somewhat white spots, both in terms of scientific exploration and public awareness. Located near Romania’s western border, and thus close to Hungary, the Apuseni Mountains lie at the boundary between Partium and Transylvania. Numerous rivers, including the Berettyó, the Criș rivers, and the Arieș, flow through this 145-million-year-old mountain range. The most diverse karst landscape in Europe is still entirely shaped by water. It is a world of cave entrances as high as twenty-five stories, chasms that yawn hundreds of meters deep, underground glaciers, and waterways that rise and fall below the surface. The landscape speaks through the narrator’s voice and, while presenting a fairytale-like wilderness, it also confronts us with the harsh and drastic ways in which we are destroying even the untouched nature of these inaccessible mountains, leaving less and less of it behind.