The 58° TrentoFilmfestival is coming back

 From 29 April to 9 May Trento will once again be the international capital of mountains. The occasion is offered by the 58th TrentoFilmfestival, the prestigious festival (the oldest one of its kind in the world and since 2005 directed by Maurizio Nichetti) of narrative, documentary, journalistic and fiction films featuring nature, man and adventure set in the world of mountains. Films from the world over, selected for the originality of their story, or the way of portraying the mountains and the relationship between man and nature, will compete for the Grand Prize Città di Trento – Gold Gentian - and for other important festival awards.

Among the films programmed for 2010 is the first screening in the Italian language of the much-awaited Nanga Parbat, which the director Joseph Vilsmaier – winner of the 1996 TrentoFilmfestival with the film Schlafes Bruder (based on the best seller “The Voices of World” by Robert Schneider) – made in collaboration with the alpinist Reinhold Messner. The film narrates the tragic expedition in 1970 to the ninth highest mountain on earth, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, where Messner’s brother, Günther, was hit by an avalanche at the end of an adventurous descent on the unexplored Diamir slope.

On Friday 30 April 2010, the 58th TrentoFilmfestival will screen a silent film accompanied by live music in the S. Chiara Auditorium. This year the film is Der Heilige Berg (The Sacred Mountain) starring Leni Riefenstahl and Luis Trenker, made in 1926 by Arnold Fanck, one of the masters of mountain films. The original soundtrack composed by Edmund Meisel will be played by the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento conducted by Helmut Imig.

Emotions among the pages: a mountain of books
Alongside the films, the date with Montagnalibri, a “festival in the festival”: the international review of mountain publications that for twenty-four years has been the main world showcase of publications featuring the high lands. As in the past, the exhibition will be held in Piazza Fiera at the foot of the medieval city walls. From 29 April to 9 May the public will not only be able to leaf through the over thousand guidebooks, essays, monographs and photographic books (printed in 2009-2010) of hundreds of publishers from all over the world, but also meet the authors and essayists. Among the personages of the literary meetings this year will be Claude Marthaler, who took seven years to cycle through various continents, and the Japanese explorer Tamotsu Nakamura.

In the heart of adventure: face-to-face with great mountaineering
TrentoFilmfestival has always provided an opportunity for the public to meet the great mountaineers of the moment, who are present in the event evenings held in S. Chiara Auditorium. The three evenings this year will be attended by Nico Favresse, the Belgian star of mountaineering in the high mountains of the world, the best Himalayan mountaineers of the past and present, from Nives Meroi to Krzysztof Wielicki and Ang Tshering, the sherpa who organised the summit of the Nepalese government at base camp on Everest. Together they will fete Kurt Diemberger and Max Eiselin fifty years after the first climb of Dhaulagiri. And the mountain guides will also be the celebrities of an evening that will consider the development of one of the oldest professions and in particular the return of classic mountaineering on the great walls with a mountain guide.

Among the fringe events, a tribute to Fausto Coppi
Every year a full programme of fringe events enriches the TrentoFilmfestival.
Particularly awaited this year is the tribute to the climber specialists of cycle races, in remembrance of the great champion Fausto Coppi and his feats. The stories and episodes of races in the Alps and the Dolomites that have contributed in creating the myth of these bicycle champions will be retraced (also with original filmed documents) with the journalist Marino Bartoletti. Then, as usual, there will be the International Exhibition Fair of Antiquarian Mountain Bookshops, the literary marathon and the presentation of the 39th Itas Award for mountains books.

An opportunity to experience and discover the marvels of Trento, an eco-friendly city
Many particularly interesting places in the historic centre of the city will host the events of the TrentoFilmfestival: Palazzo Calepini, Palazzo Roccabruna, Palazzo Saracini Cresseri, all Renaissance residences of the period of the Council of Trent and only a few steps from the magnificent Piazza Duomo. Other events will take place in the evocative underground site of the ancient Roman Tridentum, or in the Great Hall of Buonconsiglio Castle reached after passing through the spectacular loggia frescoed by Romanino. However, the heart of the festival will be, as always, the S. Chiara Cultural Centre with the Auditorium and “base camp”, the area where the festival guests can meet and enjoy Trentino food.
In recent years the TrentoFilmfestival has become an increasingly green and eco-friendly event of “low environmental impact”: electric cars and bicycles are at the disposal of the guests, reductions on admission to the screenings for those who use the buses, differentiated waste collection in all the festival venues, use of biodegradable or reusable materials in the festival base camp, refreshments with local produce, certified electricity supply from renewable sources.

Tourist packages
The Trento, Monte Bondone, Valle dei Laghi Tourism Office has organised special packages to enjoy all the magic of the festival and discover the marvels of the city that hosts it. Weekend packages of two or three nights including 3 admissions to the film screenings. (Period: from 29.04 to 09.05.10. Price per person in double room: 2 nights, Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday, from € 115,00; 3 nights, starting on Friday or Saturday, from € 153,00. The price includes 2 or 3 nights bed and breakfast in a hotel, in the Trento accommodation facilities available, Special 72-hour Trento Card, which includes 3 admissions to the festival screenings.
Information and bookings: www.apt.trento.it - informazioni@apt.trento.it

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