30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

LET’S HERB: GATHERING OF SPONTANEOUS HERBS

Understanding the morphology and structure of plant species is essential to being able to harvest safely. Under the expert guidance of Cecilia Tanghetti of Capra e Cavoli, participants will learn to confidently recognize the most common edible plants of the month of August, learning the basic botanical tools and concepts needed to distinguish the various species. An easy walk suitable for everyone that is aimed at beginners in the botanical world and also at those who want to deepen their knowledge of plants in different habitats.

AND WHAT CHARACTER ARE YOU?

What is hidden behind a story? What can you create with imagination? And with your body, hands and voice? Annachiara Zanoli guides the participants in theater techniques to enact the fairy tales of traditional storytelling (filò) in Lessinia. We will find out who the fade are, understand if orcs are really scary, and if angels can come down from heaven. During the workshop, the children will build their own puppet with recycled materials to stage their own drama and to see how a fantastic world can be built, from nothing.

DER ZAUBERBERG

THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN

Hans Wilhelm Geissendörfer / 153 min / 1982 / Austria, France, Germany, Italy

Based on the television series inspired by Thomas Mann's novel, this film tells the story of Hans Castorp's seven years in the Davos sanatorium, in the Alps of the Canton of Grisons, in the imminence of the outbreak of World War One. Filmed in the Tempelhof studios in Berlin and in various locations in Switzerland, this film is the only faithful cinematic adaptation of Mann's masterpiece.

A TRIP TO LESSINIA. THEMES AND EXPERIENCES OF THE TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE RECOVERY PROJECT

Between tradition and innovation, “Architetti Verona” (journal of the Ordine Architetti Pianificatori Paesaggisti Conservatori della Provincia di Verona) proposes a discussion on the theme of restoration and conservation of the stone architecture of Lessinia, in search of a balance between the legacy of our ancestors and the improvements possible today. With Matteo Faustini, Marcello Bondavalli, Diego Caloi, Marco Grigoletti, Simone Salvaro, Guido Pigozzi, Nedda Taioli and Luca Zenari. Moderators: Davide Fusari and Gerardo Semprebon.

Francesca Dafne Vignaga
IGOR

“Igor just turned up by chance, I wasn’t looking for him. One day he materialized with all his soft hair and a disarming smile and asked me to give him life.” This is how Francesca Dafne Vignaga describes her book Igor (Edizioni Corsare, 2020), presented at the International Children’s Illustration Exhibition in Sarmede. She will tell us about Igor, his journey, and other creatures that have come from her pencil. The illustrator, with her naturalistic, delicate style, creates shapes, expression, and images in stories, narratives and poems for boys and girls.

APERITIF WITH THE DIRECTORS

Learn about the day’s film programme and meet the filmmakers present at the festival. At the end of the meeting there will be a tasting of products from small producers, with non- alcoholic cocktails and wines from Lessinia wineries. Organized by GAS (Social Purchasing Group) Lessinia.

SMALL FARMERS’ MARKET

The GAS (Social Purchasing Group) Lessinia presents a market with small food and wine producers from the Verona area.

BREEDING GOOD BACTERIA

Bacteria, the good ones, can be eaten to rebalance the immune defenses, used to leaven bread and are useful in cleaning the house, as well as for fertilizing the garden. This is a mini course on the breeding and conservation of bacteria through the fermentation technique which will be addressed in both its theoretical and practical aspects. Each participant will produce their own bacteria using wild herbs and fruits present in Lessinia under the guidance of Paolo Oggiano, chef and expert in Thai Buddhist fermentation.

GLENN, THE GREAT NATURE LOVER

Anna Erlandsson / 5 min / 2023 / Norway, Sweden

A couple of young nature lovers fall in love during an excursion and decide to build their own love nest in a bucolic clearing where an elderly farmer used to live. So they demolished the old wooden house to build a majestic villa with swimming pool. But will they really be willing to coexist with nature and its inhabitants?

PUFFLING

Jessica Bishopp / 20 min / 2023 / Iceland, United Kingdom

Birta and Selma live on a small island a few kilometres off the Icelandic coast, in Vestmannaeyjar. When puffins leave the nest, they often get lost in the village, confused by the many lights. Together with other young people, the set out to find the little chicks and bring them back to the cliff, where they will make their first flight.

THE SECRET OF TIME

Tzu Hsiang Chang, Wei Dai / 20 min / 2023 / Italian premiere / Taiwan

Yan An lives with his grandmother in the mountains of Taiwan. When his aging grandmother has to be treated in the hospital, Yan An's world turns upside down: he is entrusted to an adoptive family and shortly afterwards his father arrives him to tell him that his grandmother, sadly, has passed away. For the boy, adapting to the changing situation and saying goodbye to the mountains of his childhood will not be easy.

A SUMMER'S END POEM

Lam  Can-zhao / 15 min / 2024 / China, Malaysia, Switzerland

The day before starting middle school, a country boy decides to go to the city to get a trendy haircut, so as to impress his new classmates. He takes all his savings and sets off for the nearest shopping mall, only to discover that, sometimes, expectations are better than the outcome.

TO BIRD OR NOT TO BIRD

Martín Romero / 9 min / 2023 / Italian premiere / Spain

For some birds forced to live on the margins of human society, what has remained of their existence? The abundance of food in the garbage has made them plump and soft; the sounds of traffic and the rhythms of human society stun them. In this distorted reality, a cuckoo-clock bird dreams of escape with a flock of migratory birds.

Franco Faggiani
THE INVENTORY OF THE CLOUDS

It has always been said that necessity sharpens ingenuity. One could say that poverty does it even better. Franco Faggiani, with his historical novel L’inventario delle nuvole (Cortina Montagna Award 2023, Fazi Editore) leads us to discover the unique profession of the caviè: ingenious mountain men who, to supplement the meager yields of the Piedmontese valleys, built a complex network of businesses which, from Val Maira, brought a common but very precious product to luxurious Parisian ateliers: human hair. Michele Zanini converses with the author.

THE CHILDREN BEHIND ZALAGA

Karim Ali / 65 min / 2023 / Italian premiere / European premiere / Egypt, Germany

In Sinai's Wadi Zalaga, young jockeys race camels to earn money for their families, forgoing school and putting their well-being at risk. Despite efforts by international organisations and governments to eliminate child labour in the camel racing industry, the practice continues in some parts of the world.

SAKSHI RUKH

THE WITNESS TREE

Niranjan Raj  Bhetwal / 14 min / 2023 / Nepal, United States

On the eve of his coming of age ceremony, Shreedhar discovers the secret of his father's death, forcing his mother to choose whether to tell the truth or protect him. She is determined to put an end to the past and takes him to a mountain convent where she hopes that the monks can help him find peace, but he still has many questions and does not accept this silence.

KHALIL

Seyed Payam Hosseini / 20 min / 2024 / European premiere / Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Khalil is a 13-year-old boy who lives in a village on the Iranian plateau. He has just lost his father and now fears for the fate of his soul. Determined to do everything possible, he will involve all the people around him hoping to influence divine judgment, until, with the help of his school teacher, he turns directly to God to beg for his mercy.

THE MOUNTAIN THAT HEALS

The CAI Veneto and the CAI Lessinia offer an in-depth analysis of the activities and initiatives to promote mountain therapy, such as the classification of Accessible Mountain Paths, the handling of the joëlette (displayed in the Festival piazza) and the involvement of volunteers to allow everyone to “walk” in the mountains. Participants include Ornella Giordana (President of the Solidarity Accompaniment Operational Structure), Renato Frigo (president of CAI Veneto), Claudio Sponda (president of CAI Lessinia) and some protagonists of the film Changes at high altitude - Mountains, places of trasformation.

WO TU

ABOVE THE DUST

Wang Xiaoshuai / 123 min / 2024 / China, Netherlands

Ten year old Wo Tu lives in a village in China where modernisation is emptying rural communities. While his parents dig for family heirlooms, Wo Tu dreams of a water gun. His grandfather promises to make his wish come true and, once he dies, his spirit will appear in his grandson's dreams, guiding him through a dreamlike treasure hunt that will reveal the village's past.