A life suspended, out of time and in an inaccessible world, dealing with loneliness and an invisible adversary: the story of Félix, a melancholy and reserved young shepherd, amazed and moved the international jury of the 72nd Trento Film Festival, which he then assigned to the film A pasteur by Louis Hanquet (France/2024/71′) la Golden Gentian Best film – “Città di Trento” Grand Prize. “The film offers a mesmerizing portrait of a young man and his existential choice, capable of leaving us all in awe. The director captures different moments in Felix’s life, surrounded by his animals, be they dogs or sheep, which he knows how to take care of in a sensitive and attentive way. In the overall vision it offers us, Un pasteur calls us to respect and humility in the face of a community made up of animals, men and nature that coexist in harmony”: this is the motivation of the Jury. Félix lives alone and works with his father to raise the family flock: from autumn to spring he takes care of his animals, feeds them and looks after them in the dense holm oak forests of the French pre-Alps. In the summer, he leaves his father and travels more than two hundred kilometers on foot to lead the herd to mountain pastures, up to the Ubaye valley, in the Alpes de Haute Provence. There, for long months, far from everything and everyone, he lives in a world made of rocks, where an invisible being wanders: the wolf.
“The true 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”.
He wins the Golden Gentian Best film about mountaineering, people and mountain life – Award from the Italian Alpine Club Le fils du chasseur by Juliette Riccaboni (Switzerland/2023/54′), a film that “presents the moving story of a young Swiss man of Moroccan origins animated by the desire to get back in touch with his father. His search encounters moments of extraordinary truth about his father’s life and his old friend Charlot, reconnecting audiences to all those who, in one way or another, are left behind in society.” A special mention was awarded to Marmolada – Madre Roccia by Matteo Maggi and Cristiana Pecci (Italy/2024/76′).
There Golden Gentian Best exploration or adventure film – “City of Bolzano” Award she went to The Great White Whale by Michael Dillon (Australia/2023/104′) “for the courage, the resourcefulness of the crew, the climate of camaraderie that shines through the stories of the protagonists and the skilful use of the archives. The Great White Whale is not only the first successful attempt to climb the summit of Big Ben. It is also the metaphorical value of a distant horizon to travel collectively, taking advantage of the experiences of those who preceded us in the same challenges, reminds us that there is nothing more risky than doing nothing and that what we will regret when we are too tired and old. they are the untapped possibilities.”
“Henna Taylor’s new documentary adventure recounts the ascent of the Dunn-Westboy Direct on Longs Peak, completed by Madeleine Sorkin over the course of an entire day on the wall. A heartfelt narration, which takes into account Sorkin’s continuous attempts to reach the summit without ever falling. To paraphrase Madeleine, Body of a Line “seems like a symphony moving in our body”. With this motivation the Silver Gentian – Best technical – artistic contribution was assigned to Body of a Line by Henna Taylor (United States/2023/10′).
There Silver Gentian – Best Short Film instead it went to Postcards from the Verge by Natalia Koniarz (Poland/2023/40′): “the intimate story of two young traveling filmmakers. During their adventure through the Andes they encounter many unexpected difficulties, from the Covid pandemic to border crossings. In uncertain times, their relationship reaches maturity in the encounter with the life difficulties that local residents face.”
A special mention was assigned to Silent Panorama by Nicolas Piret (Belgium/2024/5′). The Pprize of the Jury was finally assigned to Seventeen by Thomas Horat (Switzerland/2023/17′), with this motivation: “the history of men, women and the memory of places are harmoniously combined in Antonietta’s words. Her memories take us back to the moment in which a choice was necessary in Italy. Seventeen tells us how the choice of anti-fascism of a young partisan consciously contributed to the freedom of the generations that followed”.
“There is a common thread that links the Jury’s choices, a thread that winds through the psychological narrative of the protagonists and in their relationship with the places: not just backdrops, but engines of intimate and complex journeys”said the director of the exhibition, Luana Bisesti. “Choices as always original and not obvious, a worthy conclusion to an edition that has rewarded the Festival’s ability to renew itself, reinvigorating its seventy-two years of history in a contemporary way”.
“I am doubly happy for the awarding of the Golden Gentian Grand Prize “City of Trento” to Un pasteur by Louis Hanquet, first because it is an important film that tells the radical choice of a boy who climbed with his flock and his dogs into mountain, far from everyone but without ever being truly alone because Hanquet is a first-time director” concluded Mauro Gervasini, head of the film program. “Festivals also serve this purpose. Revealing talents, discovering the best authors of tomorrow, is the ultimate aspiration of anyone who organizes a selection.”
PUBLIC AWARDS
In addition to the official prizes awarded by the International Jury and the fifteen special awards, the Trento Film Festival also awards two audience prizes every year. The Festival public was able to vote in the MyTFF area of the website, assigning a number of gentians which corresponds to a vote from 1 to 5. The sum of the votes decreed the two winners of the 2024 edition.
The Audience Award for Best Mountaineering Film – Rotari he went to Monte Corno – It seemed that I was in the air by Luca Cococcetta (Italy/2024/72′). The film tells the story of Francesco De Marchi, who on 19 August 1573 climbed, with a small expedition, the impervious and rocky peak of the Corno Grande, on the Gran Sasso, achieving an epic feat for his time: reaching a peak the curiosity to climb what he believed to be the highest mountain in Italy. Narrated in Francesco De Marchi’s own words, with a detailed reconstruction, the film recounts the climb through spectacular images of the climb up the limestone rock of Corno Grande. Born in 1982, Luca Cococcetta was born and studied in L’Aquila. In 2008 he won the selections for the preparatory directing course at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and in 2010 he began producing short films and documentaries with his production company Visioni Future.
The Audience Award Best Feature Film – DAO it was instead assigned to Segnali di vita by Leandro Picarella (Italy, Switzerland/2023/106′). In Lignan, a village of few souls in the Saint-Barthelemy Valley in the Aosta Valley, an Astronomical Observatory scans the skies every night. Like a bell tower or a lighthouse, the large telescope marks the time of the small mountain community. In autumn, the astrophysicist Paolo Calcidese moves into the structure as the sole custodian and inhabitant to carry out his scientific research and experiment with new technologies. Due to a technical accident he will be forced to put aside the stars and solitude to dedicate himself to other forms of life not yet considered: human beings. Leandro Picarella is a Sicilian director and screenwriter. His first feature film, Triokala (2015), received numerous reviews in Italy and abroad. Subsequently he wrote and directed Epicentro, which premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival-Critics’ Week. Signs of Life is his third feature film.
Info: www.trentofestival.it
