Nothing is more unnatural than immobility: man and the world around him are bound to an ongoing, persistent, unstoppable motion. We move through the centuries on a path where we cross the destinies of animals, mountains, woods, deserts, oceans that are dynamic, in transformation. Stories, ours and theirs, continuously and inevitably linked. The Gran Paradiso Film Festival, for its 19th edition, wants, ideally, to slow down our motion for a few days, in order to give us the time to watch, listen, know some of these stories. The narrators will be the directors of the films of the International Competition. We will follow, through their vision and their style, a road touching nine Countries and three continents, discovering different worlds, fascinating and conveyors of contrasting emotions. The animals, who can be great teachers, will be the protagonists of the selection. Stories of animals and men, hostile or closely linked, antagonistic or fraternal. This year’s edition proposes multi-awarded or unreleased productions: works that will amaze thanks to the power of the reality and the art of the raconteurs. CortoNatura, the section of the Festival dedicated to short films, will offer to the spectator the incomparable chance to have the big themes of life unraveled in few, ravishing minutes; animation, fiction and mini-documentaries will reveal a more experimental, dreamlike and original soul.
Not just the directors with their films, but other voices encourage us to decrease the speed of our pace and to walk through the path together. The guests of the cycle of events De Rerum Natura will offer a wide range of causes for reflection. With an art critic, a writer, a man of faith, a sportsman, an architect, a politician or a philosopher, every rendez-vous will be a journey inside the thought, inside our past, present and future. We will have to forget about time, about our tasks, about our haste and, along the way, we need to make room: two new sections – Aria di Festival, with outdoors events, and Festival Off, with special hors-concours screenings – will further enrich this nineteenth edition. The Gran Paradiso Film Festival is many things: it is cinema, music, people sharing their stories and ideas, it is Nature. It is a dense programme, spread for six days in the Gran Paradiso National Park and the Mont Avic natural Park, following the Giroparchi trails to discover the historical and ecological unitarity of the territory. The Festival conveys a message that reminds us the natural environment is fragile and not “alien” to us. It is a system we belong to, that we could and should take care of. For this reason, the Gran Paradiso valleys Charter will be discussed and signed during the week: the heritage that the Gran Paradiso Film Festival wants to leave, a way to combine preservation and development in the interests of present and future generations. Nothing is more unnatural than immobility, but we need to choose the best direction to take.
Luisa Vuillermoz and Gabriele Caccialanza, Artistic Directors of the Festival
The Festival in the words of...
The Gran Paradiso Film Festival grows year after year alongside with the pride for an event that is the outcome of the collective effort made by Fondation Grand Paradis and by all the authorities and institutions that support it. It is a unique festival, created ad hoc for the Gran Paradiso, that speaks about Nature, beauty and commitment.
Vittorio Anglesio - President of Fondation Grand Paradis
The two sides of the path: the first one, a physical path, is an approach to nature through the creation of tracks and trails at the heart of the unique Aosta Valley setting; the second path, a symbolic one, represents the path towards the respect for nature, towards an increasing attention to the environment and towards the importance of the human impact on the protection and life of these highly natural areas. The quality of a path for a quality path.
Renzo Testolin - Regional Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources Aosta Valley Autonomous Region
A real awareness of the importance of protecting the environment needs an active knowledge of the mountain: walking not only allows to admire the beauty of the landscape, but it also unveils that wild nature that, for Thoreau, is the sacred place that regenerates the self and upon which relies the survival of the world.
Aurelio Marguerettaz - Regional Minister of Tourism, Sport, Trade and Transport
The support to the Festival of Compagnia di San Paolo lies within “Torino e le Alpi”, the programme of the Foundation aiming at enhancing the development of the Piedmont and Aosta Valley Alps and to strengthen the network of the subjects working to make the mountain the protagonist of quality culture and attractive to a wide and differentiated audience.
The contribution of Fondazione CRT to the Gran Paradiso Film Festival strengthens the cooperation with Fondation Grand Paradis and the attention dedicated to the best initiatives of the Aosta Valley. Following its mission, Fondazione CRT acknowledges the Festival as a vehicle of discovery and promotion of the resources of Gran Paradiso, of social and cultural growth for the territory and of development of an awareness towards the respect for the environment.
The mountain is like the path of life for those who know how to admire it: we long to follow its tracks, to cross the woods and meadows that gives it colour, the moraine and glacier that engrave it, until we reach the top, where we can gaze towards the infinite and grasp the immensity.
Italo Cerise - President of the Gran Paradiso National Park
Steering council
Enthusiasm, experience, competence and a deep link with the Gran Paradiso territory: these are the qualities of the Steering council of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival, composed by Fabio Fazio, Luciano Violante and Luisa Vuillermoz. The members of the Steering council renewed their commitment to realise a 19th edition rich in proposals that touch and sensitise the audience on the themes of nature, culture, show, art and science, making available to the Festival – for free – their competences, ideas and relationships.
An experience in nature
Dynamic, creative and attached to the territory they belong to, a territory they long to share, protect and value: these are the members of the Fondation Grand Paradis team, a group of motivated young people with different professional backgrounds and, thus, complementary to each other; a team that work every year with renewed energy in order to make the Gran Paradiso Film Festival an exciting and enriching experience for the public.
Fondation Grand Paradis team