Verona Mountain Film Festival, from 22 to 25 February, mountaineering, climbing and exploration on stage at the Gran Guardia.

The film festival dedicated to the mountains is back, with four evenings of events, screening 8 selected films about 107 members to this edition, arrived from 13 nations of the world. Free admission screenings, starting at 20.30pm.

Inauguration Thursday 22 February with the performance of the Scaligero Choir of the Alpe del Cai of Verona.

A portrait of the life of Hans Kammerlander, one of the greatest climbers of our time. And, again, the chronicle of the tragic and exciting journey that led Pasang Lhamu Sherpa to become the first Nepalese woman to climb Everest in 1993. These are some of the many exciting mountain stories that the Verona Mountain Film Festival has chosen this year year to present to the general public for the eighth edition.

At the Gran Guardia Auditorium, from the 22 25 February, starting in the evenings at 20.30 pm, the Veneto Festival returns entirely dedicated to mountaineering, climbing and exploration.

107 films have registered for this edition, coming from 13 countries around the world, of which 8 were selected to be screened during the Festival evenings. Furthermore, 21 shots from the photography competition promoted by the Giorgio Zanotto Foundation will be shown every evening on the big screen.

The event will be inaugurated on Thursday 22 February, with a performance by the Coro Scaligero dell'Alpe del CAI of Verona.

The event was presented this morning by the Councilor for Culture Marta Ugolini. Present were the president of the Verona Italian Alpine Club Antonio Guerreschi, the president of the Verona Mountain Film Festival Roberto Gualdi, Paolo Zanotto president of the Giorgio Zanotto Foundation and the manager of the Verona Porta Nuova BCC Veneta branch Barbara Guglielmi.

“The Italian Alpine Club – declares councilor Marta Ugolini – brings the mountains to the city, bringing people closer to a world in which we rediscover and regenerate. The Film Festival offers free events open to citizens and as an Administration we are certain that there will be great response and appreciation for this cultural activity which gives the opportunity to immerse oneself in the beauty of the mountains. This event reminds us of the importance of awareness, because through culture it manages to talk to us about realities not strictly linked to our daily lives."

The Festival is promoted by the Verona section of the Italian Alpine Club, with the subsections Zevio Mountaineering Hiking Group and Verona Scaligero Alpine Group, and with the artistic direction of the Associazione Montagna Italia.

The event, organized under the patronage of the Municipality and Province of Verona, is supported by the Giorgio Zanotto Foundation, AGSM AIM, Sportler, Azienda Trasporti Verona, Verona Fiere and A22 Autostrada del Brennero. Main Partner: Bcc Veneta.

The Asiago Dop Cheese Consortium and the Custoza Doc Wine Protection Consortium will organize an aperitif which will be offered to the public before the opening of the inaugural evening, on 22 February.

The Festival is part of the Circuit “Spirit of the mountain” and is divided into four evenings which will be presented by the President of the Festival Roberto Gualdi. In addition to the international film competition, the festival also promotes the mountains through photography, music, events and the presence of guests.

The jury is made up of: Piero Carlesi, president, with members Nicola Bionda and Giuseppe Spagnulo.

“For about a week – declares Verona Mountain Film Festival president Roberto Gualdi – Verona will be the capital of mountain cinema thanks to the eighth edition of this festival which will focus on four days of screenings. The numbers: eight films in competition, twenty-one finalist photographs in a photography competition, three films out of competition and numerous events called 'culture pills' and linked to various themes. An event made possible thanks to the support of the partners who believed in the strength of the project."

The three films out of competition:

MANASLU by Gerald Salmina with Hans Kammerlander, Reinhold Messner, Werner Herzog, Austria, 97′

Spectacular and moving, the portrait of the life of Hans Kammerlander, one of the greatest climbers of our time. The triumph that made him famous throughout the world is the fastest climb to the summit of Everest in 16 hours and 40 minutes in 1996, followed by the first ski descent from the highest mountain in the world. Hans Kammerlander returns to face his destiny again 26 years after a dramatic experience on Manaslu, a mountain in Nepal 8163 meters high. On that occasion, his climbing partners and childhood friends Karl Großrubatscher and Friedl Mutschlechner lost their lives while Hans survived. After 26 years, this climb does not represent just a challenge for Hans but a way to once again face the tragedy of 1991 which he has not yet managed to overcome. Manaslu – The mountain of souls is the biography of one of the greatest mountaineers of our time, with archive footage and the help of actors in the various reconstructed sequences.

PASANG by Nancy Svendsen, United States, 71′

The chronicle of the tragic and passionate journey that led Pasang Lhamu Sherpa to become the first Nepalese woman to climb Everest, in 1993. As an indigenous, uneducated, Buddhist woman in a Hindu kingdom, Pasang's dream of climbing the legendary mountain it turns her against her family, foreign mountaineers, her government and nature itself. This historic undertaking, which will involve an entire country and will give a new generation the courage to believe in their own possibilities, is told in the documentary Pasang: in the shadow of Everest which was awarded the 2023 Mario Bello Award from the Center for Cinematography and film library of the Italian Alpine Club.

MOUNT ST. ELIAS by Gerald Salmina with Axel Naglich, Jon Johnston, Peter Ressmann, Günther Göberl, Austria, 104′

Nicknamed the Man Eater, the summit of Mount Saint Elias in North America terrifies climbers but three of the best skiers and climbers in the world dare to tackle one of the greatest natural challenges in all of the discipline. A dramatic documentary, which tells the story of four very different characters: three men, a mountain. Against the backdrop of the wild beauty of Alaska, the two Austrian ski mountaineers Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann, and the American freerider Jon Johnston embark on an unparalleled feat in which physical and mental pressure pushes them to the absolute limit.

Every evening there is a small initial talk, a collateral moment to the screenings of international films, in the presence of guests.

Inside the festival.

Il 23 February The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, Verona section, will be present on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the national CNSAS.

Il 24 February The 4Land company will be present and will explain how a geographical map is created.

Il 25 February, final evening, in collaboration with the Gulliver bookshop, the book "The attraction of steps" will be presented in the presence of Tino Mantarro and Luigi Licci.

Following this, the Awards Ceremony for the Festival's film and photography competitions will take place, in the presence of the event partners and the authors of the winning works.

Entry is free: an important commitment, demonstrating the attention that the organizers want to reserve for mountain and cinema enthusiasts, citizens and tourists.

Since the first edition, the Festival has been conceived with these premises, as a real gift to the city of Verona, which, with a value proposition, accessible to all, completes the rich cultural program of the city.

All information on the site http://www.montagnaitalia.com