MEETING AT THE BORDER, TO CROSS IT
The thirty-first edition of the Film Festival della Lessinia takes place in a time marked by alarming and senseless surges of rearmament and war. Feeling directly affected—as a cultural event whose mission is to provoke thought, stimulate reflection, and generate ideas—we present a program of 101 events that seeks to look beyond barriers. Not to ignore them, nor to deem them useless in a generic way, but to prevent borders (geographical, civil, cultural, religious) from becoming excuses to impose one’s beliefs— sacred or reckless—through force, violence, and oppression, as if we had learned nothing from the past century bloodied by wars, as if we had lived the entire existence of humankind on planet Earth without nurturing any aspiration toward peaceful coexistence. It is out of this deep conviction that the Festival has joined Emergency’s R1PUD1A campaign, reaffirming its rejection of war in all forms, in defense of Article 11 of the Italian Constitution. This year’s film program, more than in any previous edition, addresses pressing geopolitical issues through the screening of 86 films from 38 countries, of which 26 are Italian premieres. The rights of peoples, migration, oppression of the humble, climate challenges, modernity in relation to tradition, the loss or search for one’s roots, and questions about the future of new generations are some of the themes of a complex yet interconnected program—linked by threads that intertwine and strengthen each other in their weaving. Over thirty years, Bosco Chiesanuova and Lessinia have proven to be privileged places for encounter and dialogue. “When borders yield to each other, they generate life,” says Moni Ovadia. Let us meet, then, at the border—to go beyond it.
Alessandro Anderloni
Artistic director
