The future, the most important peak to climb

Published 09/04/2021

From 30 April to 9 May, Trento Film Festival returns with an entirely digital edition. In the second year of the pandemic the Festival introduces innovative formats, content and communication tools, to guarantee the public an international film programme, along with fascinating and original climbing, scientific and literary events. The Festival will continue in the cities and valleys of Trentino in summer.

Trento Film Festival reopens cinemas, at least symbolically, to offer a sign of hope to a sector hit badly by the effects of the pandemic. It does so by presenting the programme for the 69th edition from the stage of the Supercinema Vittoria in Trento, with live streaming on the Facebook pages of the Festival, CAI – Club Alpino Italiano – and the Municipality of Trento, the founding partners of Trento Film Festival.

The presentation saw the participation of the President of Trento Film Festival, Mauro Leveghi, the General Vice-President of CAI – Club Alpino Italiano – Lorella Franceschini, the Municipality of Trento’s Councillor for Culture, Tourism, Youth Policy and Education, Elisabetta Bozzarelli, Festival Director Luana Bisesti and the Film Programme Coordinator, Sergio Fant.

The edition kicking off on 30 April and concluding on 9 May (with films online until 16 May) will be entirely digital, with the cinemas, theatres and venues being represented by the online.trentofestival.it platform, the trentofestival.it website and the social media channels of the Festival and its various partners. Clearly these venues will be virtual, but experienced directly by thousands of spectators on one side of the screen, while on the other there will be the hundreds of directors, guests and staff members, at a Trento Film Festival capable of adapting, once again, to very difficult circumstances.

« This 69th edition of Trento Film Festival coincides with the second year of the pandemic, and we are approaching it fully aware that much has changed, and that for the sake of man’s future, much still needs to change», explained the President Mauro Leveghi. «With this spirit and commitment, we thus return to our public, hoping and expecting to see cinemas and theatres lighting up the faces of spectators as soon as possible. In this framework, the films scheduled this year, of very high quality, will be able to inject even more energy, including several works on climbing that will make us dream and relive unforgettable moments, and others dealing with the central issue to which the drama of this pandemic is also linked: man’s relationship with nature ».

The film programme recounting Greenland, the guest country in the “Destination…” section – made possible thanks to the contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto – and the official poster created for this 69th edition of the Festival by the artist Gianluigi Toccafondo, already announced in the last few weeks, have precisely the scope of contributing towards drawing attention to these topics, stimulating reflection and dialogue on sustainable growth, the loss of biodiversity, respect and coexistence with other animal and plant species.

«In this period and for the next few months, the main efforts must still be concentrated on defeating Covid-19, but alongside this global commitment, in the meantime we must not fail to pay attention to the other major challenge underway, the environment, with the very future of humanity on the line», continued Leveghi.

«Once again, Trento Film Festival is forced to deal with the serious situation resulting from a pandemic affecting the whole world. It will thus be another unusual edition, but thanks to the hard work of the organisers, it will maintain its high quality standards», underlined the General Vice-President of CAI – Club Alpino Italiano – Lorella Franceschini. «Loads of high-quality films, lots of guests and lots of cultural initiatives related to promotion and respect for the environment and the complex relationship between mankind and nature. There will also be a series of events organised by a founding partner of the Festival, Club Alpino Italiano, which will present its publications and collaborative initiatives. The most important event will take place on 7 May and will be dedicated to trekking, with presentation of the first of twelve guidebooks on CAI footpaths in Italy, a major project edited by members of the association, featuring one of the longest and most fascinating trekking routes in the world, and the special issue entirely dedicated to it by Meridiani Montagne».

« Trento Film Festival is… much more than just a festival. Not only is it an integral part of the history and identity of this city, but it has also become a genuine driving force for cultural events, by now taking place throughout the year», said Councillor Elisabetta Bozzarelli. «For the Municipality, the Festival is a fundamental ally in the joint programming of cultural policy for the city, with a genuine shift in terms of approach, involving cultural organisations in establishing and implementing strategies from the very beginning. This is what the mountain culture teaches us, confirmed by mountaineering values: in the mountains it is necessary to know how to share, work together, support one another and make the most of the resources available. The post-pandemic recovery must be based on these pillars, and the Municipality intends to construct solid and lasting foundations with Trento Film Festival».

«When we say the Festival is resilient, we are not speaking rhetorically, jumping on the bandwagon of fashionable terminology: once more this year we have demonstrated tangibly that we are capable of adapting formats, content and communication tools to the circumstances, in order to guarantee the public a film programme of international level, along with fascinating and unique climbing, scientific and literary events» recounted the Director of the Festival, Luana Bisesti. «We have decided to schedule the Festival in its original time slot, in spring, to restore a calendar that no longer smacks of emergency. However, we have chosen to keep some of the positive innovations of the last edition, such as the online screening platform and the live broadcasts on social media channels, which permitted and will again permit thousands of people to access our original content. Dozens of guests, with us again this year, will animate the scientific gatherings transmitted live on the radio, and the literary meetings broadcast from the magnificent rooms of Palazzo Roccabruna, in cooperation with the ITAS Mountain Book Prize and Montura Editing. The star of the climbing evenings – which will take place right here in the Supercinema Vittoria – will be the great mountaineer Hervé Barmasse, who will talk to a different guest each evening about particularly topical issues».

However, this edition will also pick up an important innovation of last year’s Festival in terms of the relationship with the local area. «This year’s Festival will be a long one: after the spring event, returning to its traditional dates, we have invested in a further two phases, allowing us not just to disseminate the Festival content, but also to offer new material, counting on the public’s enthusiasm» continued Leveghi. «In June, thanks to the precious cooperation with the Municipality of Trento, we will organise events in the city of Trento in a widespread and participatory manner, involving not just the city centre, but also peripheral districts. In subsequent months we will instead be present in the valleys of Trentino, visiting places with renewed tourist activities and in collaboration with several partners».

The Val di Non tourist office, Dolomiti Paganella tourist office with the Mountain Future Festival, Associazione Antermoia with Val di Fassa tourist office, Val di Fiemme tourist office, Val di Sole, Peio and Rabbi tourist office, Madonna di Campiglio tourist office, Alpe Cimbra tourist office with the Consorzio Voglia in Folgaria: these are the many partners with which Trento Film Festival is organising events, for a summer marking the start of a recovery and focusing on film and mountain cultures.