The Bear at the Trentofilmfestival

The decision to confront a subject of such burning topicality as the bear in Trentino, which creates heated discussions among naturalists of differing opinions, is symbolic for the 2008 Festival. The choice of the brown bear as the icon of this year’s poster intends to begin a general discussion, allowing various opinions to be aired on the question of the co-existence of modern man and wildlife.

One of the highlights will be the documentary “The Edge of Eden: Living with Grizzlies”, screened for the first time in Europe. It is the story of the Canadian naturalist Charlie Russel, who became the surrogate mother of a pair of frisky orphaned bear cubs, and it is an important document of his co-existence with the great brown bears in the Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia. Charlie Russel will be a guest of honour at this TrentoFilmfestival and a member of the round table on the subject of the bear and its conservation (Tuesday 29 April in the Sala della Fondazione Caritro). The meeting will present Charlie Russel’s experiences with the grizzly bears and the Life Ursus project the Autonomous Province of Trento is carrying out in the Adamello Brenta Nature Park to recreate a population of bears in the Alps. The debate will be chaired by the journalist Mauro Fattor and, with Charlie Russel, there will be Ruggero Giovannini, director of the Forest and Fauna Service and Claudio Groff, responsible for the supervision of the bears in the Province of Trento.

The round table will be followed by the presentation of the book “Bruno e gli altri” by Ruben Frizzera (Published by Il Margine) hosted by Paolo Ghezzi

Charlie Russel
Charlie Russel, a 66 year old who used to be a farmer, has become an expert on the grizzlies. For 47 years he has studied and examined the conditions in which bears can be peaceful and safe animals for human beings, even if they live in the same environment, providing they are not disturbed. Nobody in the world has devoted so much time to observing these animals in their natural habitat. Charlie in fact studied them on his ranch on the borders of Waterton Glacier National Park between Montana and Alberta. Furthermore, he lived for 12 years in contact with a large group of brown bears in Kamchatka. His research focused on 10 cubs born in various Russian zoos, which Russel considered could return successfully to the wild state.

Charlie Russel’s experience is, in some respects, unique because he studied with utmost care what happens when man replaces fear, anger and aggressiveness with kindness, an open mind and trust towards the grizzly bears. The naturalist has narrated his experience with the bears in many successful books published in five languages.
The documentary “The Edge of Eden” in competition at the TrentoFilmfestival, made by the BBC and filmed in Russia, has received numerous recognitions in many Film Festivals in North America

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