Bolzano Film Festival: 38th edition

The Bolzano Film Festival, held annually in Bolzano-Bozen, Italy, is a prominent event that celebrates both Italian and international cinema. It primarily focuses on promoting independent and innovative cinema, with a particular emphasis on films that explore themes of social relevance, cultural diversity, and human rights.

Hosted by Bolzano, the capital of the multilingual province of South Tyrol, its film festival is also interested in the films and film makers representing minority languages and indigenous communtites.

The 38th edition of the festival was held from 4 to 13 April 2025 in the FilmClub cinema in Bolzano. Films from many countries were shown during the festival, with a special focus on the films from Taiwan.

I have never attended a film festival before, so it was an entirely new experience for me. I didn't watch that many films but I enjoyed the overall atmosphere during the event. I particularly liked the Q&A part after each film, where the directors explained the idea of their creations, shared the challenges during filming and answered questions from the audience.

All the films from the festival were divided into the following sections:

• Competition

• RealeNonReale

• BFFB Special

• Focus Taiwan

• Ehrenpreise

• Homage

• Local Heroes

• Kleinsprachen DOC (small languages)

• Little Lights

• Berlinale Shorts

I watched four films during the festival, with all of them having made quite an impression on me - both positive and negative.

"Karuara, people of the river" (Peru, 2024)

Small languages section

The film tells a story of a brave indigenous Kukama woman and her community who try to stand up to the power of the government and save their mother river Marañón. The film shows their way of life, their culture, legends and traditions and their close relationship with the river, where they fish and live. One of the characters in the film said that she feels safer in the water than outside of it - this is how close their relationship with the river is.

Their language, Kukama-Kukamiria, is highly endangered, as many community members have shifted to speaking Spanish. A significant number of people have also left the community to move to the city, due to the lack of access to quality education and limited opportunities. Additionally, nearby oil production has led to river pollution, resulting in a decline in the fish population. This has severely impacted the community, which has traditionally relied on fishing as a primary source of livelihood.

I found it truly fascinating to learn about this Indigenous group, both in terms of their culture and the challenges they face. Interestingly, as the film’s director mentioned, it took ten years to complete the documentary, during which he became almost a member of this closed community, which makes it all the more valuable. I’m glad I chose to watch it - it was definitely a good choice for the first film to watch at the festival. I even have an autograph from the director now.

"Riefenstahl" (Germany, 2024)

Competition section

The documentary film telling a life story of Leni Riefenstahl - an innovative director and one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. After the WWII she always denied her ideological proximity to the Nazi regime, her estate and legacy tell a different story though. This film shows both sides.

Frankly speaking, before watching the film, I haven't even heard about Riefenstahl and her work, so it was an educational revelation for me.

The narration in the film was mostly in English, except for original recordings of phone conversations, which were in German. For these, Italian subtitles were provided, but as the quality of the recordings were not the highest, due to low frequency sound, it was hard for me to follow what was being said in those phone conversations. So my brain had to work hard by switching between Italian and German. I believe for the majority of the people who watched the film, it was not a problem, as they are all native speakers, who speak either or both German and Italian, so it was only my personal struggle.

"April" (Georgia, 2024)

Competition section

The film follows the story of a skilled obstetrician working at a maternity hospital in Eastern Georgia. On the side, she travels through rural areas of the country, performing unsanctioned abortions.

The film has a lot of explicit scenes, so people need to be aware of that before watching it. I was definitely not ready for them. But what I didn't like most, was that there were too many scenes that were unnecessarily long and didn't really show anything of value. The film did leave a lasting impression though as it raised a difficult and important issue of women rights.

"Gaga" (Taiwan, 2022)

Focus Taiwan section

The film shows the ways of Atayal people, the indigenous community in Taiwan, on the example of the Hayung family consisting of three generations. The older generations have always followed the Atayal tradition - Gaga, which emphasizes morality, harmony, and mutual respect within the community and they try to maintain and pass it down to the next generations. Nowadays though it is not easy to stick to traditions, as the community incorporated modern lifestyle and values into their daily practices.

I really enjoyed watching this film - not just because it introduced me to a community I had never heard of, but because it was so well-made. It brought their daily life to the screen with warmth and authenticity. At times it was funny, at others deeply moving, and it kept me engaged from start to finish.

The director of the film has Atayal background, although she admitted that she grew up in the city, so she doesn't speak the language and doesn't have much connection to the community. With this film, however, she wanted to bring attention to her culture and to my mind she did it beautifully.