30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Italian premiere

Since the second half of the nineteenth century, the wolf had disappeared from the Alps. Banished and hunted beyond the borders of an anthropized world, even at high altitudes, the wolf has now returned to inhabit forests and mountains in Central Europe. Thomas Horat turns the lens to his native Switzerland, where in 2011 the first pups of a new generation were born, before crossing the entire continent. The complexity of this return is recounted by breeders, biologists and behavioural experts who every day face the difficulties of a necessary coexistence, engaging in a continuous debate. From Austria to Bulgaria, from Germany to Minnesota, the director follows the trail of an elusive predator, threatened by our fear. If we meet the wolf's gaze in the woods, we discover that basically it is the similarities between our species that led us to meet more than 35,000 years ago, working to survive together. These affinities force us today to create a new balance, far away from one and other.

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  Thomas Horat

  Thomas Horat is a Swiss director, producer and distributor, member of the Swiss Film Academy. His documentary films, Wätterschmöcker (2003) and Alpsummer (2013) were presented in various festivals from Switzerland to the United States. The short film Ins Holz (2017) was nominated for the Swiss Movie Award and obtained various international prizes.