9:00 am
Book Ticket
THE EMBROIDERED POSTCARD
Children and adults alike transform old postcards from Lessinia with needle and thread, giving them a new life. With help from Sofia Corsato of Il Filo di Sofia, participants learn basic embroidery techniques, turning mountains into cakes and stone houses into funny or scary faces. And in the end, why not send your personalized postcard to someone special?
9:45 am
Book Ticket
FERMENTATION TECHNIQUES WITH PLANTS
Discover and try cultivating and preserving “good” bacteria using the Thai Nam Mak fermentation technique. Each participant produces their own bacteria using herbs and wild fruits from Lessinia, with hands-on guidance from Paolo Oggiano, chef and expert in Thai Buddhist fermentation.
10:00 am
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IO STO CON LA SPOSA
ON THE BRIDE’S SIDE
Antonio Augugliaro, Gabriele Del Grande, Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry / 89 min / 2014 / Italy, Palestine
A Palestinian poet and an Italian journalist stage a fake wedding to help five Syrian migrants reach Sweden. Disguised as a wedding party, they travel across Europe, evading police checks and border controls. This hybrid docu-film, which is both moving and political, tells the story of the unstoppable power of hope, with irony and humanity.
10:30 am
Claudia Cavallo, Giacomo Lombardo, Dario Castellino, Fabio Figaroli, Giulia Giavoni
OLTRELESSINIA. RESTORATION EXPERIENCES OF ANCIENT VILLAGES AND ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE IN THE ALPINE ARC
The traditional appointment with the Ordine degli Architetti Pianificatori Paesaggisti Conservatori della Provincia di Verona brings into dialogue the context of Lessinia’s stone architecture with experiences from other mountain regions at the margins. Participants include Claudia Cavallo (IUAV University of Venice), Giacomo Lombardo (Mayor of Ostana), Dario Castellino (architect), and Fabio Figaroli and Giulia Giavoni (ATOMAA).
11:00 am
Irene Penazzi
ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES
A garden, a tree, a winding path, a tent in the woods: from these simple beginnings, wondrous adventures unfold, if you know how to look through a child’s eyes. Every rustle, sigh, and creak brings a surprise—and when shared with friends, it’s all the more delightful. Irene Penazzi’s Su e giù per le montagne (Terre di Mezzo, 2021) and Nel mio giardino il mondo (Terre di Mezzo, 2019) capture this playful spirit, without a single word. So, dear children, come and uncover the evocative sounds of nature hidden within these books!
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.
3:00 pm
SMALL FARMER MARKET
The Festival Square will host the traditional market of small food and wine producers from the Verona region, organized by GAS Lessinia (Social Purchasing Group).
3:30 pm
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RENÉ VA ALLA GUERRA
RENÉ GOES TO WAR
Luca Ferri, Morgan Menegazzo, Mariachiara Pernisa / 19 min / 2024 / Italy, Slovenia
René lives in a house in the Slovenian mountains. He spends his holidays alone in the woods, among the remains of abandoned bunkers from the Second World War. He loves to build rudimentary wooden weapons and imagines defending himself from an enemy attack, playing a game of combining and reworking historical evocations with current events.
IBUKA, JUSTICE
Justice Rutikara / 23 min / 2024 / Italian premiere / Canada
Rwanda, 1994. A young couple welcomes the birth of their child. They call him Justice because justice is increasingly rare in their country. In a climate of growing tension, a bloody civil war breaks out and the persecution of the Tutsis begins. The two parents flee abroad, ensuring a future for their child who, as an adult, will tell their story.
DASHT MIKHANAD
THE PLAIN SINGS
Gita Feizi / 14 min / 2024 / Iran (Islamic Republic of)
When she takes the sheep out to pasture, Zhina, age thirteen, gives free reign to her passion—singing. But her father is not enthusiastic and thinks only of finding her a husband. When one of the sheep is killed in an accident, Zhina takes off her headscarf and shepherd’s trousers and walks away.
THU GUI ME
DEAR MOM
Hà Lệ Diễm / 17 min / 2024 / Italian premiere / Vietnam
Song, a little girl of Hmong ethnicity, lives with her younger brother and father in the mountains of Vietnam. Her mother has been gone for years; she fled to China to start a new life. The little girl writes a sweet and heartbreaking letter asking her to come home.
4:00 pm
Marco Aime
BORDERS. REALITY AND INVENTIONS
With Confini. Realtà e invenzioni(Edizioni Gruppo Abele, 2023) Marco Aime, anthropologist and an expert on many human cultures from every part of the world, explores the countless facets of this concept to discover how skin color, food, social classes, religions, and many other aspects contribute to delineating a varied and surprising picture in which symbolic borders far exceed geographical ones. Nadia Massella converses with the author.
6:00 pm
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Virtual theater
THE ICE BUILDERS
Francesco Clerici, Tommaso Barbaro / 15 min / 2024 / India, Italy
Life in the remote Zanskar Valley in Ladakh is closely tied to the presence of glaciers, which provide the water necessary for cultivating the fields. Global warming, which is also causing the ice tongues to retreat even at these altitudes, poses serious challenges to local communities. To adapt, they have revived an ancient tradition: building ice stupas—frozen towers designed to conserve precious water.
PROTIV VETRA
AGAINST THE WIND
Tatyana Soboleva / 79 min / 2024 / Italian premiere / Russian Federation
In the southern Caucasus steppes of Russia live the Nogai people, descendants of the ancient Mongol dynasty of the Golden Horde. Among them is a woman named Gulfira, who leads her community into the desert to fight the encroaching sands by planting juzgun, a shrub with long roots capable of withstanding sandstorms. It’s a battle to preserve not only the environment, but also the identity of these people.
9:00 pm
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Virtual theater
LA ROUTE
HIMALAYAN ROAD: A NEW FRONTIER
Marianne Chaud / 85 min / 2025 / European premiere / France
A new road in the Zanskar Valley will soon connect one of the most inaccessible regions on the planet to the rest of the world. Locals have sold their land and herds to become laborers. Smiling women work on the construction sites, children play, unaware of the transformation that will soon disrupt their homeland. With the arrival of the road, what will become of the delicate balance that has endured for millennia in this remote corner of Ladakh, in the heart of the Himalayas?
