Alain Gerente writes : “Volcanoes are at the origin of the continents, the oceans, the atmosphere formation, and maybe at the beginning of life... Some of us, motivated by an intense call within, dedicate our lives studying, filming and photographing eruptions. That is just the essence of my life.”

Born in Limoges, France, in November 4th 1940.
An Academic and a movie maker, Alain Gerente has filmed the eruptions of Piton de La Fournaise, in Reunion Island, for over 40 years.  
By now, he acquired a unique experience shooting active volcanoes.  He has always been fascinated by volcanism and bought his first motion picture camera in 1967, when he just got nominated professor at the University of Science in Reunion Island. Very few people shared this passion at the time and his encounter in 1973 with Katia and Maurice Krafft was bound to happen. It was the beginning of a great friendship and a long professional collaboration. They organized together several shooting expeditions over different volcanoes around the world.
Maurice and Alain co-directed some internationally awarded movies, which were mostly dedicated to La Fournaise.  Co-authors of several abstracts for the Academy of Science, they also were at the origin of the creation of La Maison du Volcan in Reunion. This museum was inaugurated in 1992, more than a year after Maurice and Katia’s tragic death during the deadly eruption of Mount Unzen in Japan on June 3rd 1991. Alain had to assure then alone the production of all the movies required by this museum.
His passion for Nature led him to introduce, through many films, his adoptive island and  amazing Piton de La Fournaise, one of the most active volcano on Earth.
In 1996, Alain directed an IMAX movie named “Island Adventure” with breathtaking images shown all around the world.