On a river in Ireland is the winner of the 18th edition of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival
On a river in Ireland (Ireland, 2012) by John Murray is the winner of the 18th edition of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival.
The proclamation, announced by Fabio Fazio in the course of tonight's award ceremony, received an exceptionally warm welcome accompanied by rounds of applause.
The film was awarded the 18th Stambecco d’Oro Trophy – Fondazione CRT award, worth 5.000 euros, assigned by the Jury of the audience.
The second place went to Scandinavie, l'appel du Nord (France, 2014) by Laurent Joffrion, followed by Terre des ours (France, 2013) by Guillaume Vincent.
Terre des ours was also awarded the Stambecco d’Oro Junior Trophy by the Children's Jury of the International Competition.
The best short film for CortoNatura was Vigia (Switzerland, 2013) by Marcel Barelli.
The technical Jury, composed by Danilo Mainardi, Lucilla Albano, Annie Lapied, Paolo Lazzarin, Alessandra Miletto, Joseph Péaquin and Ezio Torta assigned the following awards:
- Gran Paradiso National Park Award (worth 1.500 euros): Butterfly Stories by Christoph Schuch (Germany, 2013). Motivation: freshness and boldness of the theme, high quality of the script and dramatic buildup of characters, all of which creates a magical interweaving of man and nature, drawing connections between human paths and butterfly migrations.
- Progetto Natura Award (worth 1.500 euros): Time Worm by Sena Basoz (Turkey, 2014). Motivation: the young director's poetic feel for reality, the honesty with which she describes the relationship bewteen human work and nature, drawing under the spotlight a rural community surviving crisis and dramatic events, but also sharing a spirit of renaissance.
- Lipu – Mario Pastore Award: On a River in Ireland by John Murray (Ireland, 2012). Motivation: Poetic, evocative documentary focusing on an envirionment which is slowly disappearing, even from a land riddled with myths like Ireland. Beautiful photography, fascinating and of sheer elegance the sequence portraying the swans.
- WWF Italia Award: The New Wilderness by Mark Verkerk and Ruben Smit (The Netherlands, 2013). Motivation: effective, didactic documentary shot beautifully, following an extended filming and production work.
The evening, hosted by Fabio Fazio, featured the athlete Nico Valsesia as special guest, whose sport achievements are ideally connected with the focus of this year's Festival, sustainable mobility.
In the afternoon De Rerum Natura drew to a close, with Fabio Fazio's interview with Flavio Caroli: the event, greatly appreciated by the audience, proposed a journey through the book “Il volto e l'anima della natura (The aspect and soul of nature)”, inviting the public to reflect on nature's representations in art history.
“I would like to give credit to the Gran Paradiso Film Festival” said Fabio Fazio. “Amazing how in such a geographically small area such quality events actually get organised. In the Gran Paradiso National Park beauty is understood and nurtured and this is what renders it even more appealing”.
The Festival was organised by Fondation Grand Paradis in collaboration with the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley – Department of Tourism, sport, commerce and transport, Gran Paradiso National Park, Fondazione CRT, The Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities, the Municipalities of Cogne, the Alpine Convention, Federparchi, the Municipalities of Ceresole Reale, Rhêmes-Saint-Georges, Valsavarenche and Villeneuve.