Heights and Depths

HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS (WT) takes us to the dormant volcano Mauna Kea. At this highest mountain in the Hawaiian island chain, at night, the world's most renowned astronomers look fascinated into the universe and inspect earth-like planets and black holes. For them, there is no better place in the world that offers better conditions to pursue these researches and questions in the Northern Hemisphere. The view is the clearest and deepest here. But when the first rays of sun rise over the fog and sparkle and flash off the light snow cover, the telescopes have just closed their hatch and the scientists are on their way down with their jeeps and only glimpsing the believing Hawaiians from the fogged car window. For indigenous Hawaiians, this is the moment when they celebrate their sunrise ceremony on Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is a sacred mountain for the indigenous people. A place where the earthly and heavenly gods exchange. The place where everything started, where everything comes together and where a conflict between two civilizations and beliefs is about to explode.