The documentary on the theater at the Volterra prison with the premiere of "Qui è Altrove" by Gianfranco Pannone and a video message by Ken Loach 40 years after the victory of his “Which Side Are You On?” are the setting for the opening night, while Paolo Cognetti and Vasco Brondi inaugurate the 65th Festival dei Popoli with the Italian premiere of "Fiore Mio"

#My Flower”, written, directed and starring Paolo Cognetti, tale of the peaks of Monte Rosa, geographical places that man is losing, in his presence and with Vasco Brondi who took care of the music, and “Here is elsewhere” by Gianfranco Pannone on Armando Punzo's theater in the Volterra prison, they are the Italian premiere documentaries that inaugurate, together with the guests mentioned, the 65th edition of the Festival dei Popoli.

“Here is elsewhere” by Gianfranco Pannone is a story between theater and prison set in Volterra, in the detention institution located inside the Medici Fortress: here it is, just, the Fortress Company, founded 35 years ago by director Armando Punzo who, every summer, puts on his show in the prison, with the prisoners as actors.

For the Habitat section, the story of a small farm in a Norwegian forest, in the doc “A New Kind of Wilderness” by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen where the Paynes family lives an isolated life with the aim of being free and wild, a united family in harmony with nature. however, when tragedy strikes, their idyllic world is turned upside down, forcing them to forge a new path in modern society. The film was awarded best international documentary at the last Sundance Film Festival.

The official inauguration ceremony of the 65th edition opens with a video message by cult director Ken Loach, a 40 years since his participation in the festival.

“I am very pleased to send a message of congratulations to the Festival dei Popoli: documentaries have always had a very important function: they have to witness what is happening. Let's see these wars, all these people suffering. Let's look at the actions of some states, who care nothing about international human rights, but they only pursue their interests, causing massacres and suffering on an enormous scale. Sometimes our own countries are involved, like in my case. We must act as witnesses and tell the truth."

He then adds a particular memory that links him to the Festival dei Popoli, about his documentary “Which Side Are You On?”: “I have a special reason to celebrate this festival. Forty years ago, in 1984, crucial events occurred in Great Britain. The miners' strike against Margaret Thatcher's right-wing government. She had decided to close the quarry and destroy the mining communities because they were the most politically active groups in the country, they were radicals, committed and determined. Right-wing Labor and trade union leaders gave the miners little or no support. The full power of the state was brought to bear against the miners, and the police were particularly brutal. I managed to make a documentary that should have aired, but they refused to pass it on. They said: ‘We won't show the police beating the miners.’ And I said: 'But it's the truth. We have the pictures, we have the proof'. But they refused to show them. The Festival dei Popoli has

screened that film that risked never being shown, rewarded him and I am immensely grateful. After, right towards the end of the strike and when it was already failing, it was finally shown in my country too, and it was thanks to this festival. Festivals are important. They're not just for cinephiles. Festivals matter. This festival matters. Documentaries matter. Good luck and solidarity”.

The first film in competition is “Fiore Mio” with Paolo Cognetti and Vasco Brondi who will greet the public and introduce the film. Cognetti – former author of "The Eight Mountains", then great success at the cinema – he makes his directorial debut with a work in which he places his passion for the mountains as a geographical space and interior dimension at the center. When in the summer of 2022 Italy is being drained by drought, Cognetti witnesses the exhaustion of the spring for the first time near his home in Estoul, small village in 1700 meters above sea level overlooking the Brusson valley, in the Aosta Valley. An event that deeply disturbs him and pushes him to talk about the beauty of Monte Rosa, of glaciers destined to disappear or change forever due to the climate crisis. Cognetti thus leads us to the peaks of Quintino Sella, of the Orestes Hutte and the Mezzalama, through breathtaking landscapes and encounters with those he found in the mountains, before a house, a real "place of feeling".

luigi Noera