The Press conference for the presentation of the XVII edition of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival - Stambecco d'Oro Trophy was held in the Conference Room of the Mole Antonelliana - Museo del Cinema di Torino. It featured the President of Fondation Grand Paradis and of the Gran Paradiso National Park, Italo Cerise, the Mayor of Cogne, Franco Allera, and the Artistic director of the Festival, Luisa Vuillermoz.
The Festival, dedicated to the theme of water (on the occasion of the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation), will be held from 26 to 31 August in Cogne, Rhêmes-Saint-Georges, Valsavarenche, Villeneuve and Ceresole Reale. In addition to the official selection of the International Competition and CortoNatura section, the Festival proposes De Rerum Natura, a cycle of events which include conferences, encounters with the protagonists, shows and activities on various topics related to nature, science and the environment.
The opening ceremony will take place in Cogne, the historical heart of the Festival, at 5 p.m. on Monday 26 August, with a happening on the Sant'Orso Meadows dedicated to the theme of water. The closing ceremony of the XVII edition of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival will be held in Cogne (at the Maison de la Grivola) at 9 p.m. on Saturday 31 August. It will feature satirist Dario Vergassola as special guest and co-host.
This year's program is particularly rich and varied, including ten films belonging to the genre of 'wildlife documentary' selected for the International Competition. The directors display a fresh and bold approach to complex themes revolving around the animal kingdom, inventing new languages to describe nature with an intimate look. The result is a range of auteur films of extraordinary intensity. It doesn't come as a surprise, therefore, that many of these are launched this year and were indeed originally conceived for the big screen. The 2013 edition of the Festival takes into account these new contemporary voices, featuring films which can truly speak to a wider audience, without banalising or massifying the content. On the contrary, they appear to be inventing new forms and peculiar hybrids.
The importance of respecting Nature - the message which the Festival intends to purport - will be conveyed by Massimo Gramellini, the Deputy Director of 'La Stampa', who will share with the audience his own thoughts on nature.
Amongst the guests of De Rerum Natura, Danilo Mainardi will present his book 'Noi e loro – 100 piccole storie di animali' ('Us and them - 100 little stories of animals'), Professor Valerio Onida will speak on 'the Nature of the Constitution', the astrophysicist Paolo Calcidese will give a speech entitled 'Water and life in the universe', Marco Albino Ferrrari will present his latest book 'La Via del lupo' ('The Way of the Wolf') and several other guests will take part in a proper celebration of Nature.
The symbol of the Festival is 'Bouquetin', the sculpture by Donato Savin exposed at the Miners' Village of Cogne, whose small scale reproduction stands for the Stambecco d'Oro Trophy, the event's main award.
The Stambecco d'Oro Trophy (worth 5.000 €) will be assigned by the Jury of the audience. The latter is composed by individuals who commit to viewing the entire official selection at any of the Festival venues. The Children's Jury will assign the Stambecco d'Oro Junior (applications to become a member of either juries are now open). The Technical Jury, chaired by the ethologist and Honorary President of LIPU, Danilo Mainardi, includes Ezio Torta (television writer and director), Paolo Lazzarin (Vice President of Ente Progetto Natura), the director Joseph Péaquin and Marco Albino Ferrari (writer and journalist, founder and Director of 'Meridiani Montagne').