A common thread connects the Special “UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites” Prizes awarded this year at the Trento Film Festival and the Bolzano Film Festival Bozen: both went to films featuring women as guardians of natural or intangible heritages.
“Muyeres” wins in Trento
As part of the Trento Film Festival, on Thursday 1 May the special jury created by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation and SAT, chaired by Mauro Pascolini and composed of Massimiliano Corradini, Cinzia Fedrizzi and Annibale Salsa, awarded the special prize to ‘Muyeres’ by Marta Lallana (Spain / 2023 / 77′), with this motivation: “In the Asturian mountains, thanks to old recordings collected by a musicologist, some elderly women relive their rural life, thus revealing the value of oral singing. The film, masterfully shot in black and white, with extraordinary lyrical moments, is also a journey into the past and present lives of the protagonists, who become the custodians of a unique intangible heritage that must be protected and passed on.” A special mention was given to ‘Misión Kipi’ by Sonaly Tuesta (Peru / 2024 / 80′).
“Karuara” wins in Bolzano
On 13 April, the Special UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites Prize was awarded, as part of the Bolzano Film Festival Bozen, to directors Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Araoz Cartagena for their documentary “Karuara”. The film highlights the courage of Kukama woman Mariluz Canaquiri Murayari and her indigenous community in the Amazon in their fight to protect the Marañón River and the spiritual world of the Karuara, the so-called river people. The jury that selected the work of Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Araoz Cartagena consisted of Walter Angonese (Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation), Dorothea Vieider (former president of the Bolzano Filmclub), geologist Volkmar Mair and Leo Hilpold, director of the Nature provincial office. A recognition, therefore, honouring the safeguarding of a natural but also cultural heritage, as emphasised by Virna Bussadori, Director of the Nature, Landscape and Territory Development Division, responsible for the UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites in South Tyrol: “The Kukama people in the Amazon show us how the people’s awareness of their universal heritage, of their deep connection with nature and the landscape, and also with the spirit world, is directly linked to the assumption of responsibility.”
This activity is part of the project “Capacity building. Strengthening the social and regional capital of the Dolomites World Heritage Site (WHS) for lasting and sustainable development of local communities”, established with the support of Fondo Comuni Confinanti.