Damiano Levati

How do you run 100 miles and 18.000 ft of vert in under 14 hours? The answer is oddly simple: one step at a time. This story isn't about how I ran Western States in 13:51, becoming the second man to ever go under 14h. This story is about relationships and identity, pain and joy, doubts and hope, discomfort and confidence. It's about my reality as an athlete and as a person, a reality that is messy and difficult and doesn't always look good, but that I am learning to appreciate and to accept for who I am.

Probably no one has explored solo climbing like Hansjörg Auer, whose memorable feat on the "fish route" has forever marked the history of this very peculiar kind of mountaineering. "The hardest thing to do when you're doing free solo," says Hansjörg, "is not the ascent. It is to go back home." Why? Because when loneliness strips you naked you understand the importance of the relationships you build with people around you. “No turning back” is an introspective and epic film, delicate and powerful: there is not only vertical life, there is not only performance. There is an all-round discovery of what makes a life worth living.

Certain things cannot be dodged. What's important is to have the ability to put the pieces together and move forward. Every odyssey needs its sea: it is in the luminous solitude of autumn in the Dolomites that Aaron Durogati, a formidable pilot and authentic aesthete of flying, faces his personal journey to learn how to rise and stand. An intimate and powerful story about fragility and human resilience, to rediscover flight as pure gesture and pure self-expression.

How do you run 100 miles and 18.000 ft of vert in under 14 hours? The answer is oddly simple: one step at a time. This story isn't about how I ran Western States in 13:51, becoming the second man to ever go under 14h. This story is about relationships and identity, pain and joy, doubts and hope, discomfort and confidence. It's about my reality as an athlete and as a person, a reality that is messy and difficult and doesn't always look good, but that I am learning to appreciate and to accept for who I am.

Probably no one has explored solo climbing like Hansjörg Auer, whose memorable feat on the "fish route" has forever marked the history of this very peculiar kind of mountaineering. "The hardest thing to do when you're doing free solo," says Hansjörg, "is not the ascent. It is to go back home." Why? Because when loneliness strips you naked you understand the importance of the relationships you build with people around you. “No turning back” is an introspective and epic film, delicate and powerful: there is not only vertical life, there is not only performance. There is an all-round discovery of what makes a life worth living.

Certain things cannot be dodged. What's important is to have the ability to put the pieces together and move forward. Every odyssey needs its sea: it is in the luminous solitude of autumn in the Dolomites that Aaron Durogati, a formidable pilot and authentic aesthete of flying, faces his personal journey to learn how to rise and stand. An intimate and powerful story about fragility and human resilience, to rediscover flight as pure gesture and pure self-expression.