9:30 am
Book Ticket
THE WOODEN MANDALA
Many small pieces of wood in different geometric shapes form the starting elements with which children create their own mandala: a small circular universe to assemble and color in total concentration and freedom, seeking in those shapes something that represents its creator. The mandalas are handcrafted by Luca Fiorentini from Il Vajo.
9:45 am
Book Ticket
SWEETNESS WITHOUT BORDERS
In the shops and souks of North Africa and the Middle East, both in Israel and Palestine, people cook and eat katayef, a dessert made with kataifi pastry, honey, dried fruit, and cream cheese. Participants prepare it together with Mounia Azhar, a pastry chef from Rabat, and taste it while reflecting on how food has the power to overcome borders and unite people.
10:00 am
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IL DESERTO DEI TARTARI
THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS
Valerio Zurlini / 140 min / 1976 / France, Germany, Italy
Based on Dino Buzzati’s masterpiece, the film tells the story of young Second Lieutenant Giovanni Drogo, who is assigned to the remote Bastiani Fortress, a final outpost perched on the edge of the desert. There, he spends years in a rhythm of military routine, discipline, solitude, and the anticipation of an ever-looming threat that never really arrives.
10:30 am
Massimo Tripodi, Enrico Arcangelo Stanziale
ROME AND ITS BORDERS: FROM EMPIRE TO IDENTITY
From the pomerium, the sacred boundary of the Roman city, to the crossing of the Rubicon, to the trauma of September 8, 1943: Itineraria, a platform for geopolitical analysis, offers a reflection on the concept of boundaries as the foundation of law and identity, spanning ancient Rome and contemporary challenges. Three of Itineraria’s founders participate: Enrico Arcangelo Stanziale, historian and geopolitical analyst; Massimo Tripodi, strategic consulting expert; and the moderator, Giovanni Teodori.
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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DEEP ROOTED
Duncan Rudd / 10 min / 2024 / United Kingdom
A stubborn acorn must decide where to plant itself to have the best access to water and chooses a small island in the middle of the stream. A mighty oak will grow, perhaps too mighty, and rather surly.
L'OURSE ET L'OISEAU
THE BEAR AND THE BIRD
Marie Caudry / 26 min / 2024 / France
Instead of hibernating, like every other winter, the bear wants to reach his friend the bird, who has migrated south to a warm island. During the long, adventurous journey he meets a beaver, a rabbit, a fox, and a whale, but when he arrives on the island, his dear friend the bird is no longer there.
PEUN-KU-LARP
ROSE RASH
Thanut Rujitanont / 10 min / 2024 / Thailand
In Thailand, in the lush and exuberant rainforest, a group of children light a fire and dance a ritual dance. Perhaps because of a spell, perhaps due to a parasite, the trees suddenly turn pink.
LE CHAT, LE RENARD ET LE LOUP
THE CAT, THE FOX AND THE WOLF
Aurore Muller Feuga / 11 min / 2024 / Italian premiere / France
The cat and the fox embark on a journey in search of the lone wolf. Going from witness to witness, they will understand that the fascination surrounding this animal also comes from bizarre tales and imaginative legends.
LA LÉGENDE DU COLIBRI
THE LEGEND OF THE HUMMINGBIRD
Morgan Devos / 9 min / 2025 / France
In the Amazonian forest, due to human carelessness and devastation, a fire breaks out, before which the animals remain helpless. Only a hummingbird, noticing a sloth and her cub that are trapped, decides in his small way to fight the flames with tenacity and courage.
FREELANCE
Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego, Magnus IglandMøller, Peter Smith / 3 min / 2024 / Chile, Denmark
In the castle of a remote and fantastic kingdom, the king has a worry: he wants to kill the dragon that hides in a cave in the mountains. To do so he will hire a handsome knight, but pleasing the sovereign will not be easy.
4:00 pm
Stefano Dal Bianco
PARADISE
Stefano Dal Bianco is one of the most respected and acclaimed contemporary Italian poets. With Paradiso (Garzanti, 2024, Strega Prize for Poetry 2024), he recounts his endless walks through the hills of Siena in the company of his beloved dog Tito, in a constant search for the secret messages that nature jealously guards but knows how to reveal to those with the sensitivity to understand them. In conversation with the author is Massimo Natale (University of Verona).
6:00 pm
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Virtual theater
LA MURAILLE
THE OTHER WORLD
Callisto McNulty / 65 min / 2025 / Italian premiere / France, Switzerland
In Campell, in the mountains of southeastern Spain, a great wall separates two worlds: that of the healthy and that of the sick. The Fontilles sanatorium was built in 1905 to house people suffering from leprosy. The wall surrounding it was meant to prevent the sick from escaping and to keep them from coming into contact with the outside world. Today, patients and staff at the still-functioning sanatorium describe it as both a prison and a place of refuge.
VIENTRE DE LUNA
MOON BELLY
Liliana K'an / 30 min / 2024 / Italian premiere / Mexico
In a small village on the Chiapas highlands in Mexico, a young Tzotzil girl is about to give birth for the first time. By showing her fears and struggles, the film explores the theme of motherhood through the memories of women who have experienced it before her and reveals how this experience is lived within her indigenous community.
6:30 pm
Gianmarco Lazzarin MAPS: A JOURNEY THROUGH SPACE AND TIME
The evolution of Lessinia’s landscape—from the Early Modern era through the twentieth century— can be interpreted by studying the cartographic representations preserved in libraries, state archives, and online collections. The boundaries, place names, and depicted structures carry a symbolic continuity between past and present. On the occasion of the exhibition Gli Alti Lessini nelle mappe settecentesche (The High Lessini in Eighteenth-Century Maps), Gianmarco Lazzarin leads a journey through these geographic charts, transcending the boundaries of time and space. Chiara Bianchini, Director of the State Archives of Verona, will offer her insights.
9:00 pm
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Virtual theater
LA MONTAGNE D'OR
MOUNTAIN OF GOLD
Roland Edzard / 85 min / 2025 / Italian premiere / Belgium, France
In the arid mountain regions of the Sahara Desert in northern Niger, young miners risk their lives in search of gold, driven by dreams of fortune. They live in squalid encampments, at the mercy of unreliable water supplies and under constant threat of collapse in the narrow holes they dig. The film reconstructs the extreme working conditions of young men who dream of finding the nugget that will free them from a life of poverty.
