The Gran Paradiso Film Festival will begin on Monday 26 August. This year's edition, the Festival's seventeenth, hopes to directly involve the audience by offering to take part in various stages of the event, starting from the opening ceremony, which will take place in Cogne.
The Festival will open its doors with an unprecedented event, the 'STAMBECCO D'ORO FLASH MOB IN THE SANT'ORSO MEADOWS”, curated by the artist Anna Biancardi: a living, moving image representnig the ibex, symbol of the Festival; a collective action, where everyone gets involved with colours and music. The participants will take part in an animation-effect which will be filmed, and the video screened during the award ceremony. To take part in the event all you have to do is sign in, either via the webpage Book your Festival, by phone (+390165-75301), or at one of the nature and culture-based sited managed by Fondation Grand Paradis.
An additional novelty is “Question time: your curiosities on the Parks answered”, scheduled in the 'De Rerum Natura' program, which will take place on Tuesday 27 August at 4 p.m. at Maison de Cogne Gérard-Dayné. Park experts will answer questions from the audience, both present at the Festival venue and following the event from home. Questions can be sent either to info@stambeccodoro.it, or with a private message to the official Gran Paradiso Film Festival Facebook page, or submitted directly to any of the nature and culture related sites managed by Fondation Grand Paradis. The answers, reflecting the vivacity and concision typical of such form of debate, will be given during Question Time on Tuesday 27 August and will be subsequently available online, in video format posted on the website www.grand-paradis.it. Those who wish will receive their answer by email.
Luisa Vuillermoz, Aristic director of the Festival, explains: 'The Festival will not be a prepackaged item to display; it aims at being a space for reflection, debate and involvement. In addition to the quality of the official selection and the wide range of guests, we will offer the audience a chance to build their own Festival, hoping they will see it as an active experience and not just a show.'
According to tradition, the Jury of the audience, present at each screening venue (Cogne, Valsavarenche, Villeneuve, Rhêmes-Saint-Georges and Ceresole Reale) will assign the main awards to the winners of the various sections: the International competition - Senior and Junior - and CortoNatura. Applications to become a member of the jury for any of the screening venues are spontaneous, the only obligation being that prospective members must commit to view the entire official selection. To apply please fill in the relevant application form available on the Festival website or at the Gran Paradiso National Park Visitor Centres of Cogne, Rhêmes-Notre-Dame and Valsavarenche.
All participants will receive a baseball cap and an official Gran Paradiso National Park mantle. The first 30 to sign up will receive one free Fondation Grand Paradis Pass - the cumulative ticket granting admission to the nature and culture related sites managed by Fondation Grand Paradis.
For further information please consult the Festival official website, www.gpff.it/en.