A voracious shadow

Two men, two crises, one mountain. The internationally acclaimed Argentine author Mariano Pensotti weaves together the stories of a mountaineer and an actor into two psychological journeys of self-discovery, in which he brings life paths, formative experiences, doubts, and unfulfilled expectations into sharp contrast with unmistakable originality.

Shortly before the end of his career, a mountaineer sets out on an expedition to the very peak where his father, a celebrated alpinist, disappeared 30 years ago—a disappearance that was never fully explained. He follows the traces of the past, guided by signs and coincidences, and perhaps also by a longing for a life that finally belongs to him alone. At the same time, an actor is preparing for a new role: he is to portray this very mountaineer in a film about the ascent. As he grapples with this new challenge, an illness forces him to confront fundamental questions of life—about responsibility in a changing world, about his role as a father and as a son.

Their stories intertwine at a tipping point where truth and fiction can no longer be clearly distinguished. While one tries to break through his father’s silence, the other struggles with the question of who he can still be beyond the characters he portrays. Like a melting glacier, this encounter reveals layer upon layer: repressed memories, unresolved losses, old bodies in the ice of the past. The mountain becomes a resonating chamber for projections, guilt, and hope—a voracious shadow that swallows everything that remains unresolved.