The howl of the glacier: the poster for the 73rd Trento Film Festival is by Sebastião Salgado
Published 27/02/2025
The poster for the 2025 edition of Trento Film Festival, scheduled in Trento from 25 April to 4 May, is the work of the great Brazilian photographer. President Leveghi: «The glacier tongue shouts out its suffering »
In the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, Trento Film Festival could not fail to focus its metaphorical camera on this issue. It decided to do so in the most iconic fashion, by dedicating the poster of the 73rd edition to the subject, and by entrusting the task to one of the most important living artists, the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado.
In addition to having created the poster for the Festival, Sebastião Salgado will also be featured in one of the exhibitions most eagerly awaited in Italy in 2025. Indeed, following an idea originating with Trento Film Festival, the MART gallery and MUSE museum, together with the Festival, have joined forces to bring Salgado’s latest major exhibition project to Trentino. Entitled precisely Glaciers, it will be housed in the prestigious halls of the MART gallery in Rovereto (from 12 April to 21 September 2025) and the MUSE museum in Trento (from 12 April to 11 January 2026). Furthermore, a glacier (in Kluane Park, Canada) has been chosen by Salgado as the subject of the poster designed for the 73rd Trento Film Festival, scheduled from 25 April to 4 May.
Trento Film Festival had not chosen a photograph for its official poster since 2004. A glacier also took centre stage in that year, albeit with an archive photograph by Vittorio Sella taken in 1909, featuring the Goldwin – Austen, at the base of K2.
«While mountains are genuine sentinels of the climate changes underway, glaciers are the best indicators for monitoring their dramatic evolution. A group of international researchers, including experts from the Institute of Polar Science at the Italian National Research Council, has studied the evolution of the equilibrium line of over four thousand glaciers situated in the Alps up to 2100. The data gathered has shown that by the end of the century we could lose between 69% and 92% of alpine glaciers, depending on the development of the scenario» recalls Mauro Leveghi, President of Trento Film Festival. «For this reason, it was important for the Festival to honour the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation designated by the UN, and there could be no better way to do so. Sebastião Salgado is indeed one of the most well-known intellectuals and artists in the world, using his photographs to recount to millions of people the profound social and environmental changes that have transformed our planet in these last few decades. It is an honour to play host in Trento to his latest project, dedicated to glaciers and their grim future, and we are very proud that he has designed the poster for this 73rd edition. After several posters inspired by the colours of hope, Salgado’s photograph places the harsh truth before our eyes. With a black and white shot further dramatizing an image already laden with tension, the glacier tongue appears to speak to us, or rather howl out its suffering».
«Bringing Salgado to Trento for such an extensive and complex project is a dream come true» says the Festival Director, Luana Bisesti. «Indeed, for several years we have been seeking to involve this great photographer, and we have finally succeeded: we are deeply proud to have managed this by working synergistically with the most important players in the field of science and culture in Trentino, MART and MUSE, with the spirit of cooperation that has always distinguished Trento Film Festival».
Lastly, the dates for the Bolzano edition – organised thanks to cooperation with the Municipality of Bolzano, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – Alto Adige, the Bolzano branch of CAI and many other local partners –with the traditional spring appointment from 3 to 7 June and the second autumnal appointment on 22 and 23 October 2025.
