NEWS x MUSE Hannah Fletcher talks with the director Pablo Durana of National Geographic Explorer: The Deepest Cave.
Renowned caver Bill Stone is on a lifelong quest to go deeper beneath the earth than any human has ever ventured. Deep in the unexplored depths of Cheve Cave in Mexico, his goal is to set a new world record by finding a passage beyond a depth of 7,208 feet – proving once and for all his theory that Cheve is the deepest cave in the world. The expedition has been compared to climbing Everest…but in reverse. The three-month underground journey is a dangerous and highly-technical adventure through over 12 miles of tight, twisting passages. The pressure to conquer the cave will push Bill and the team to the absolute limits of survival and sanity.
“It all started with my sister, a cheap bicycle, a cheaper Handycam and a 4,100 km ride across China. The passion for travel and storytelling exploded, and I never looked back.” Pablo Durana is an Emmy® Award-winning director of photography with high attention to audio, as well as an experienced FAA-certified drone pilot. He seems happiest when the location is remote and the conditions are miserable, but adventure isn’t the only driving element for the trilingual Colombian native.
He also focuses much of his attention on social justice issues. “Documentaries have an incredible ability to educate and to inspire.” It is another big reason he became a cinematographer. Pablo has covered the first all-female Afghan mountaineering team, drug wars and human trafficking in Mexico, climbing in Antarctica, kayaking in Greenland, volcanoes in Vanuatu, American prisons, extreme motocross racing, ivory poaching in Africa and labor abuses in the global food industry.
Watch the Pablo Durana directed, The Deepest Cave now on Disney+ and National Geographic.
