There are stories that grab you from the first page and others, like the Gran Paradiso Film Festival - this year celebrating its 30th anniversary - that run for pages and pages and yet continue to be captivating, to feel fresh, unexpected and thrilling.
The story of the Festival counts 18 editions and over 150 films, hundreds of guests and tens of thousands spectators. It all started when the Festival was run in one screening venue, for an audience of a bunch of passionate followers gathering in what was little more than a gym. Then it grew, matured, succeeded in involving more and more directors and guests, featuring new settings, growing richer with every new chapter, with rendez-vous, in-depths sessions, shows, occasions to investigate, learn and reflect on nature-related themes, in the company of high profile guests.
This summer the Festival’s story is as usual whispered among people in the streets, against the stunning backdrop of Gran Paradiso, and is especially related to this year’s theme, ‘Nature is life’.
Undisputed protagonists of the International Competition are the ten selected films, coming from 7 countries - eight of which are national premieres - with a surprising range of languages and styles: from a major motion picture distributed by Disney to art documentaries, to a fresh debut by a young Turkish director. The films all show, in different forms, the desire to break with the traditional documentary genre and try out new creative pathways. Image quality, working times, the authorial perspectives, the directors’ inventiveness with technology are the common denominators of this year’s original, high-quality program, which will not fail to surprise and touch the audience. From the vicissitudes of silk worms to a most original shark preservation campaign in Australia, from the graceful butterfly flight to a close encounter with a family of bears.
The CortoNatura section welcomes a range of creative experiments. Frequently the animation short films are endowed with a touch of poetry, veering towards the surreal, showing a surprising mastery and an inventiveness. Even when the short films use digital technology, the frameworks are conceived as a painting, the landscape absorbs the characters who live in it, endowing them with a touch of eternity.
In De Rerum Natura, different voices and ideas will result in a multi-layered understanding of knowledge; going beyond the traditional opposition between the sciences and the humanities, building a bridge between scientific and humanistic culture, the aim is to investigate Nature from different perspectives. New names as well as famous ones will accompany us on a journey of discovery, to find out every possible way in which ’Nature is life’. Elena Cattaneo will inaugurate the Festival and Fabio Fazio will host the award ceremony.
In this edition the theme ‘Nature is life’ is tinged with the flagship colours of sustainability: there will be opportunities to view and test a range of electric vehicles, from pedal-assitst bicycles to the electric car, including the hot-air balloon ride. The idea is to experiment all possible means to conciliate our needs with those of the environment.
The Festival is a tale written by many authors, in which the only, real protagonist is the audience, who decides the outcomes, animates the events, is indeed its beating heart. The Festival’s story continues to grow, with many blank pages yet to be written.
Gabriele Caccialanza e Luisa Vuillermoz, Artistic directors