9:30 am
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HAVE YOU EVER ENTERED A LEAF?
With guidance from the FabLabKIDS team, children observe leaves using lenses and digital microscopes, extract chlorophyll, and discover its fluorescence in the dark. Finally, using 3D pens, they creatively reproduce a personalized leaf, combining science, art, and technology, as well as exploring leaves in all their fascinating forms and mysterious components.
9:45 am
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TIRAMISÙ: HISTORY AND TASTING OF A CULINARY MASTERPIECE
The “grand masters” of the Accademia del Tiramisù (founded in 2011 as a cultural and food & wine association) share the true story of the world’s most beloved dessert, revealing not only its origins but also the techniques and secrets of its preparation. The combination of the Academy’s tradition, the know-how of Lo Specialista, and Vicenzi’s ladyfingers creates the delicious tiramisù that is offered for tasting at the end of the masterclass.
10:00 am
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COMO EL AGUA, LA PIEDRA Y LA ESPUMA
LIKE WATER, STONE & FOAM
Diana Moreno / 25 min / 2024 / Colombia
A young Indigenous woman, Liliana, evokes the memories of the inhabitants of Nudo de los Pastos, an Andean region between Ecuador and Colombia. More than two hundred years ago, a wise man named Juan Chiles lived there. He urged everyone to become “water, stone, and foam.” Liliana gathers his words and reflects on the changes taking place in her homeland and the pollution that threatens it.
BLOODLINE
Wojciech Węglarz / 12 min / 2024 / Poland
A wall separates the bison from its herd. It is the border between Poland and Belarus, a boundary imposed by humans that, inevitably, becomes a senseless division for animals as well. The bison looks beyond that line and bears witness to dramatic events, both for humans and for animals. Its story becomes a metaphor for all those separated from their loved ones by borders.
ELYSIAN FIELDS
Anna-Maria Dutoit / 28 min / 2025 / Germany, Greece
A centuries-old olive grove in the mountains near Delphi bears the name Elysian Fields, yet despite its beauty, it is far from a “paradise” for the father and son who care for it. The wind rustling through the dry leaves brings the fear of wildfires, while the lack of rain signals drought. Like Sisyphus, they are forced to begin again and again—with dedication, love, and hope.
IL PERICOLO CHE SALVA
THE DANGER THAT SAVES
Tommaso Paris / 4 min / 2024 / Italy
Painted on rocks or wandering through desert dunes, slaughtered or caged at markets, scavenging waste or soaring above landfills—animals are at the center of this visually-driven short film shot in Morocco, which evokes the story of the ancestral bond between humans and animals, suspended between myth and modernity.
URTAJO
Miguel Ángel Marqués Bordoy / 11 min / 2025 / Italian premiere / Spain
At the wheel of his car, a politician named Javier is grappling with a moral dilemma. A toxic leak from a company that finances his political party is threatening to contaminate a nearby city. What should he do: expose the issue and face the consequences, or cover it up? A car accident involving a vehicle from that very city, Urtajo, will teach him that not everything can be bought with money.
10:30 am

Cristian Ferrari, Monica Tolotti, Sara Pavan, Antonio Massarutto
WATER: RESOURCES, CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE
The melting of alpine glaciers impacts not only the mountain ecosystem but also the water we drink every day and the water our children will drink. CAI Veneto, on the occasion of the International Year for the Conservation of Glaciers, dedicates a discussion to the crucial issue of water with Cristian Ferrari (alpine glaciers), Monica Tolotti (climate change and water quality), Sara Pavan (water resource management), Antonio Massarutto (water of the future). Introduced by Marco Cabbai of the VFG Scientific Committee of CAI.
12:00 pm

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 nonalcoholic cocktails and wines from Lessinia wineries. Organized by GAS (Social Purchasing Group) Lessinia.
3:30 pm
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IL PROFUMO DELLA TERRA
THE SCENT OF THE GROUND
Bruno Palma / 30 min / 2025 / Italy
“The scent of truffles is the scent of the earth,” says Claudio Polidori. His passion for truffles has become his profession. In the woods of Torri in Sabina, in the hills of the Rieti countryside, he searches for the prized and highly sought-after underground fungi with his loyal and experienced dogs, selling them to support his family. From his impassioned account emerges a deep, grounded, and unembellished connection to the land.
NEANDERTAL - AVVOLTOI E RITI ANCESTRALI
NEANDERTHALS – VULTURES AND ANCESTRAL RITES
Stefano Zampini / 5 min / 2025 / Italy
Ancient gestures of an extinct humanity come back to life in this brief reconstruction of a ritual documented at the Fumane Cave in Lessinia: the removal of flight feathers from birds of prey by Neanderthals. Offering a fresh perspective on the symbolic practices of Neanderthals at one of Europe’s most significant archaeological sites, the film seeks to highlight and preserve this invaluable heritage.
LE CAPRE DI MARGONE
THE GOATS OF MARGONE
Misheck Shikabeta / 16 min / 2024 / Italy
Young shepherds raise goats in Margone, a small village in the municipality of Vallelaghi, in Trentino, and share stories of their daily work. Archival footage documents an ancient tradition that these new breeders have chosen to follow, allowing their goats to graze freely in the woods, in keeping with long-standing customs, choosing what and how to eat. The milk they produce will be used for cheeses, some of which will be aged in a cave.
HOMO HUMILIS
Manuele Cecconello / 29 min / 2024 / Italy
Stefano Cappellaro’s nomadic life as a goat herder in Valle Cervo, in the Biella region, is a quiet protest against a model of society he does not agree with. The young man roams the mountains with his goats. From the animals, he gets milk; from the rocks, water; from the earth, fruits and vegetables; and from small manual jobs, just enough money to buy flour, rice, and a newspaper.
4:00 pm

Usama Al Shahmani
WHEN THEY MIGRATE, BIRDS KNOW WHERE TO GO
More than twenty years after his escape from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Usama Al Shahmani revisits a life marked by flight, humiliation, and renewal in Quando migrano, gli uccelli sanno dove andare (Marcos y Marcos, 2024). From the alleyways of Baghdad to the rivers of Kurdistan, from asylum bunkers to the restorative waters of Switzerland, Usama speaks with the voice of a poet as he recounts his extraordinary journey of loss and rebirth across borders. In conversation with the author is Giacomo Melotti, with simultaneous translation from German. Supported by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss arts council.
6:00 pm
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CANONE EFFIMERO
Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio / 120 min / 2025 / Italy
In the mountains of Calabria, Sicily, Marche and Liguria, ancient musical traditions survive—an encounter of Mediterranean, African, and Eastern cultures. In eleven tableaux, the De Serio brothers document an immense ethnomusicological heritage passed down through the gestures of instrument makers and choral performances. These are musical traditions that young people are embracing, ensuring they live on into the future.
6:30 pm

The Film Festival della Lessinia presents the completion of the H.A.D.A.MO. project (Hub and Digital Audiovisual Archive of the Mountain), made possible with funding from the EU’s Next Generation program to support innovation and digital transition in the cultural and creative sectors. The new online platform and physical stations at the Bosco Chiesanuova Library will provide access to information from past editions of the Festival and to more than 1,400 films presented since 1995. Alessandro Anderloni will present the project and discuss its future development potential.
9:00 pm
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MY SWEET LAND
Sareen Hairabedian / 86 min / 2025 / France, Ireland, Jordan, United States
Eleven-year-old Vrej dreams of becoming a dentist. He grew up and lives in Artsakh, a region of Nagorno-Karabakh. When yet another war breaks out in this mountainous region of the post-Soviet Caucasus, Vrej is forced to flee with his family. In exile, he waits, in vain, for victory. Upon returning to his village, like his peers he must prepare for a future as a soldier: a fate that seems inevitable, as if already written.
11:00 pm

Trumpets, saxophones, and trombone weave together to explore a soundscape shaped by constant musical cross-pollination: from the deep bass of “dub, ”to the frenetic rhythms of Latin music, and the mystical tones of ethnojazz. Zambo Super Pizza travels from galaxy to galaxy with one mission only—to make you move, have fun, and dance. Formed in 2020, the nine-piece ensemble is based in Verona.
