31. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
22- 31 August 2025

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY IS UNDERGROUND

An excursion to San Giorgio to visit the geothermal facilities of the “San Giorgio Zero Emissions” project, followed by a hike to the Buso del Valon for a moment of reflection on the connection between energy and climate change. The experience will be guided by Francesco Sauro and Renato Canteri. The route begins and ends at Malga San Giorgio. Length: 1 kilometer. Elevation gain 200 m. Duration: 2 hours. Ddifficulty: moderate.

AN HOUR AS A CHEESEMAKER

The traditional workshop of the Monte Veronese DOP Cheese Consortium for children and adults, dedicated to transforming milk into cheese. Each participant makes a small caciotta from fresh cow’s milk, following the directions of an expert cheesemaker. During the session, a fun simulation helps explain the principles of cheesemaking. The workshop concludes with a tasting of Monte Veronese DOP cheese.

SQUALI

SHARKS

Alberto Rizzi / 107 min / 2024 / Italy

Lessinia provides the fascinating backdrop for the surreal and grotesque tale of four half-siblings trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. Bound only by their hatred for a deceitful and cruel father, the protagonists wander a mountain landscape seemingly inhabited by ghosts and mysterious figures. The film is a loose adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

CINEMA FOR PEACE

In an age where the “darkness of reason” seems to prevail, leading to division and conflict, the Film Festival della Lessinia, in support of Emergency’s R1PUD1A campaign, offers a moment of reflection on how cinema can help awaken consciences and present visions of peace that are as urgent as they are necessary. A panel discussion featuring Renato Cremonesi, President of the Film Festival della Lessinia; Emanuela Mirozzi, film director and producer as well as Artistic Director of Studio Cinema International Italia; Mauro Boniolo, volunteer coordinator for Emergency in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Ferrara; and Maurizio Ferron, Arena in Cammino. Moderated by Mario Puliero.

AN HOUR AS A CHEESEMAKER

The traditional workshop of the Monte Veronese DOP Cheese Consortium for children and adults, dedicated to transforming milk into cheese. Each participant makes a small caciotta from fresh cow’s milk, following the directions of an expert cheesemaker. During the session, a fun simulation helps explain the principles of cheesemaking. The workshop concludes with a tasting of Monte Veronese DOP cheese.

ZONA WAO

WAO ZONE

Nagore Eceiza Mujika / 25 min / 2024 / Spain

For over fifty years, oil companies have been extracting petroleum in the Amazon, one of the planet’s great green lungs. The operations of multinational corporations in what activists call “sacrifice zones” threaten the lives of Indigenous populations, who are forced—often with the complicity of the Ecuadorian government—to abandon the rainforest and live in cramped, impoverished reserves.

À QUI LE MONDE

BLOOMING

Marina Russo Villani, Victor Missud / 45 min / 2024 / Benin, France

The water hyacinth was introduced along the shores of Lake Nokoué, in southern Benin, to decorate luxury hotels and residences. Today, this plant has become a threat to the stilt village of Ganvié and its inhabitants. Its uncontrollable ability to reproduce is suffocating the lake, the houses, and the people. The film blends realism and symbolism to tell a story of destruction and a struggle for rebirth.

Andrea Gobetti, Tullio Bernabei, Lucia Confente, Martina Cappelletti
THE BORDER BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS

In Plato’s myth, the passage from darkness into light symbolizes the boundary between mystery and knowledge. Caves, still cloaked in obscurity, transport us into a fantastical realm, where the limits between reality and imagination, life and death, and geological eras meet human perception. For those of us who live on the surface, the divide between above and below evokes ancestral fears. Participants in the meeting (cavers, writers, documentarists, rescue workers, and scientists) investigate the theme of exploring the dark and underground life in dialogue with Francesco Sauro. 

AWARD CEREMONY

GO WEST

Buster Keaton / 69 min / 1925 / United States

A young man with no particular qualities finds work on a Western ranch, where he forms an unexpected bond with a limping cow. When he learns that the animal is at risk of being slaughtered, he tries to save it by leading an entire herd through the city. Keaton crafts a whimsical and tender parable, full of silence, dust, and a stubborn affection between man and animal.

Live music by Mauro Ottolini with Osaki Trio: Mauro Ottolini (trombone, shells), Thomas Sinigaglia (accordion), Marco Bianchi (guitar). First performance.