Also for 2024, in line with the editions of recent years, the films have reached a quality level very remarkable, both artistically and technically. As always, great attention to the relationship with the city and the places involved in the various events: in addition to the confirmations of the now iconic spaces such as Piazza Duomo and Piazza Fiera, the Teatro Sociale and the MUSE, this year new new sites have been added such as Piazza della Mostra , the Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio, HarpoLab and the Garden of the Buonconsiglio Castle. Flying over the squares and streets of the centre, one would have seemed to see a myriad of ants, like the very famous ones of Fabio Vettori, which moved and turned seamlessly from one place in the city to another, entering and exiting stands, tents, historic buildings, cinemas and museums. To measure the success of the event, let’s look at some numbers: more than 20,200 tickets sold for the events dedicated to the films scheduled, over 18 thousand spectators at the events. MontagnaLibri exceeds 20 thousand attendances and Parco dei Mestieri 13 thousand, with 4,700 students and teachers involved in T4Future activities and screenings, in person and online. Data which highlights, compared to 2023, an increase of over 12% in tickets sold with 45 sold out screenings. A more than positive result and in contrast to the average attendance for films shown in cinemas across the country. Credit must be given to all the staff of the Trento Film Festival, with President Mauro Leveghi at the head, for having had, once again, the extraordinary artistic, organizational and managerial ability to enhance the strength of a unique genre Festival in Italy and of few examples abroad. Well done to the director Luana Bisesti and to the director of the film program Mauro Gervasini supported by Rosanna Stedile.
The Jury, composed of Kinga Baranowska (Poland), Alex Bellini (Italy), Jinna Lee (South Korea), Christophe Mercier (France) and Paola Piacenza (Italy), has decreed the winning films of this 72nd edition: Grand Prize ” City of Trento” – Golden Gentian for best film A pasteur by Louis Hanquet (France). Italian Alpine Club Award – Golden Gentian for best film about mountaineering, populations and mountain life Le fils du chasseur by Juiliette Riccaboni (Switzerland); Special mention to Marmolada – Mother rock by Matteo Maggi and Cristiana Pecci (Italy). “City of Bolzano” Award – Golden Gentian for best exploration or adventure film The Great White Whale by Michael Dillon (Australia). Silver Gentian – best technical-artistic contribution Body of a line by Henna Taylor (United States). Silver Gentian – best short film Postcards from the Verge by Natalia Koniarz (Poland); Special mention to Silent Panorama by Nicolas Piret (Belgium); Seventeen Jury Prize by Thomas Horat (Switzerland). The other awards: Audience Award for Best Mountaineering Film – Rotari Monte Corno. It seemed like I was in the air by Luca Cococcetta (Italy). Audience Award Best Feature Film – DAO Signs of life by Leandro Picarella (Italy-Switzerland). Amelia de Eccher Award – for Women in Mountain Cinema Postcards from the Verge by Natalia Koniarz. Anthropocene MUSE Award Death of a mountain by Nuno Escudeiro (Portugal). CinemAMoRE Award Frontier Children by Manu Gerosa (Italy); special mention to Stanze by Simona Palmieri (Italy). Cinema Award for Human Rights Mrs. Iran’s Husband by Marjan Khosravi Baledi (Iran). City of Imola Award Marmolada – Mother Rock by Matteo Maggi and Cristiana Pecci (Italy). Dolomites World Heritage Award Border farmers/Grenzbauern by Michele Trentini (Italy); special mention to Bergfahrt by Dominique Margot (Switzerland). EUSALP Velovelodico Award by Alessandro Anderloni (Italy); special mention to Border farmers/Grenzbauern by Michele Trentini (Italy). Green Film Award The Ice Builders by Francesco Clerici and Tommaso Barbaro (Italy); special mention to Bergfahrt by Dominique Margot (Switzerland). Mario Bello Award The Great White Whale by Michael Dillon (Australia). Trentino Ethnographic Museum Award San Michele Velovelodico by Alessandro Anderloni (Italy). RAI Trento Award The return of the Wolf by Niccolò Barca and Tommaso Merighi (Italy). Ritter Award – Emotions in the Mountains Keep it Burning by Guillaume Broust (Spain-Pakistan). Bank Solidarity Award for Trentino-Alto Adige The Ice Builders by Francesco Clerici and Tommaso Barbaro (Italy). Student Award University of Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck Wheels On The Bus by Surya Shahi (Nepal); special mention to Piblokto by Anastasia Shubina, Timofey Glinin (United States – Russian Federation). T4Future Award Things Unheard Of by Ramazan Kiliç (Türkiye).
These are the sections and the number of films programmed in the Modena Multiplex and at the Supercinema Vittoria: Alp&Ism (25), Previews (7), Competition (25), Destination … Ireland (16), Nearby Orizzonti (14), Special screenings (12) and Highlands (21). For lovers of numbers, the countries present at the Festival with the most films produced and co-produced were: Italy (42), France (15), Switzerland (15), Germany (9), United States of America (7). The United States co-produced two films with the Russian Federation and Iran. Demonstrating, once again, that culture knows no borders, political obstacles and religious prejudices. And as stated by the President Leveghi «The Trento Film Festival is a space of freedom: authors and audiences recognize and appreciate it more every year.» Among the special screenings worth mentioning: The shining mountain (Gasherbrum – Der Leuchtende Berg by Werner Herzog (1984). The film documents one of the great feats of Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander: the alpine-style crossing of the two 8000ers Gasherbrum I and II, without oxygen, without returning to base camp and without the possibility of being rescued. It’s all heaven’s fault by Francesco Nuti (1985): Romeo leaves prison, there is no one waiting for him: his wife has abandoned him, his son has been adopted by a new family. Romeo, without letting anyone know who he is, begins to hang out with them. But a social worker reveals Romeo’s true identity and he decides to leave alone so as not to disturb the family balance. Fifteen exhibitions and among these “K2 1954. It was like going to the moon!” curated by Leonardo Bizzaro, Roberto Mantovani, Vinicio Stefanello and set up by Roberto Festi, seventy years after the first ascent of K2, which tells the story from new points of view: the commitment of the Italian industry to equipping mountaineers. with often revolutionary materials; stadium cheering that welcomed the protagonists upon their return, the press and advertisements that exploited the shape of K2.
“How much. The revolution in one leap”, organized by the Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Muse of Trento. Through five stages including multimedia installations, physical and digital exhibits, the exhibition reveals a reality very far from what we observe around us. T4Future (Trento Film Festival For Future) the independent section of the Festival dedicated to the new generations: schools, teachers, girls and boys, families. Program of screenings, workshops and activities designed to encourage image education and promote issues related to sustainable development, environmental protection and education for active citizenship. Great public success for the thirty-seventh edition of Book mountain, the first took place in 1987, an annual international showcase of mountain publishing. A one-of-a-kind exhibition in which the public of enthusiasts discovered, browsed and consulted the copies on display, the editorial news of the last 15 months linked to the themes of the mountains, exploration, adventure and the cultures of the high lands , climate change, nature. «The real mountain, ancient and at the same time very current, won, the “sour” mountain, made of harshness and isolation», commented the president of the Trento Film Festival Mauro Leveghi. «Not easy life choices, once the result of necessity, now perhaps faced with greater awareness and will, but in some ways even more difficult to carry out, having to fight against subtle enemies such as social conventions and stereotypes, as powerful as effects of climate change, silent and invisible like the wolf.”
