About this Short Film
Timothy Dhalleine’s Adventure is for All (Chile, 2021) sits well within our Focus on Ability programme. This short film explores themes around inclusion, motivation and access to outdoor activity. It touches on topics such as accident, childhood, hiking, mobility and sensory disability without presuming a single story. The work offers a thoughtful, human look at how people of different ages and abilities negotiate space and opportunity. Festival audiences will find it a concise and respectful contribution to conversations about accessibility, resilience and community. Suitable for viewers interested in stories about participation and the everyday challenges and gains of inclusion.
Film Details
Film Transcript
My name is Alvaro Silverstein. Since I was 18 years old I've been in a wheelchair because I had a car accident. I suffered a spinal cord injury at level C5. I have paralysed my body from the chest down. I can partially move my arms and I cannot move the fingers of my hands. It was a very tragic instance of my life. I thought that my recreational life, exploring the outdoors, was something that I would not be able to do again.
There was one day that one of my best friends went to Torres del Paine on a solo trip. When he returned he told me, "Alvaro, this is such an amazing place, let's plan a trip; let's do the W Trek in Patagonia." I told my friend it's impossible that we would be able to explore this national park. We started researching online and we found a special hiking wheelchair that is called the Joëlette. It was a trip that we couldn't afford. We came up with the idea of fundraising this trip with sponsors, with companies who acquired this equipment and after our trip leave it there so other people could repeat it after us in the future.
[Applause]
And Alvaro became the first person ever to hike the W Trek in a wheelchair, so they basically made history.
[Music]
When they funded it with the world they bought the wheelchair and now it's at EcoCamp and anyone can use it. Nicolás — he's a little guy, 14 years old, with refractory epilepsy, so he can't walk or communicate, but last year his family borrowed the wheelchair and, with volunteers, they reached Torres' best viewpoint. It's the most iconic hike here and you could just feel how happy Nicolás was.
Then you've got Jake. He's a guy who never stops smiling. Between 14 and 16 he got the ability to walk due to a rare sickness. He really wanted to travel somewhere remote, so he looked for a trip that would take him to South America in a wheelchair and he found Marvel. He travelled to Easter Island with Will the World and then he came here to Ricochet and he became the first guest ever using a wheelchair.
You may think people tell you "disabled" because you're not able, but it's not true anymore. It demonstrates that humans can have a true sense of empathy and dedication to helping one another.
[Music]
Now there are blind travellers feeling the beauty of the landscape, deaf travellers can admire the immensity, and those who can't walk can feel like they're flying above some of the world's most majestic landscapes. Anyone can reach any place, even at the world's end.
[Music]
Filmmaker
Timothy Dhalleine is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Timothy Dhalleine.
