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Focusing on the relationship between mankind and nature, Trento Film Festival has always concerned itself with issues related to environmental, economic, social and organisational sustainability. Over the course of its history, the Festival has had a constant commitment to reducing its impact on the environment, trying to raise awareness and educate its guests, the public and the whole community as regards a matter of vital importance for the future of our planet, now more than ever before.
In this frame, Trentino Film Commission and APPA – Agenzia Provinciale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente (Provincial Environmental Protection Agency) set up in 2021 the Green Film Award, rewarding the film that most effectively expresses environmental protection and sustainability values and practices, with particular attention for the mountain environment and climate change.
Among 10 films competing, for the 72 Edition of the Trento Film Festival, the Green Film Award goes to The Ice Builders directed by Francesco Clerici and Tommaso Barbaro (Italia/2024 /15’) for the following reason: “Told in an effective and engaging way, it raises awareness about a particular bottom-up climate adaptation strategy, based on the local knowledge of a mountain community that has fully understood the need for a paradigm change due to having experienced the consequences of the climate crisis on its own skin“
In the Himalayan mountains, in the remote high-altitude desert valley of Zanskar, the local population has always depended on glaciers, which provided the water necessary for life and to cultivate crops when they melted in spring. Today, in an unequal battle against climate change, the people of Ladakh construct artificial glaciers to combat the lack of water in spring and contribute towards groundwater recharge.
Credits: Alessio Biagini
A special mention goes to Bergfahrt of Dominique Margot (Svizzera/2023/97′) for the following reason:
“A comprehensive look at the mountain: what it is, what it means, how we are transforming and changing it. A holistic approach based on different points of view, scientific, artistic, philosophical, existential. Evocative, sometimes surprising images to discover that the mountain lives. And therefore, it can also die.”
The mountain calls. How much longer? After years of mass tourism in the alps, a rethinking is slowly taking place. Whether researchers, artists or philosophers, many are trying to approach the essence of the mountains in new ways. They reflect the contrasting approaches in this critical time when we need to redefine our learned values and actively seek change.