The Cinemambiente Festival closed its 28th edition (it took place in Turin from 5 to 10 June), but It is not over: Until June 21, his films can be seen in streaming (free).
Do not imagine bucolic documentaries, with flowery meadows and glossy characters, far from: Cinemambiente is a collection of complaints. In the feature films and in the short films in the competition you can see raw scenes that tell this era of our overlapping crisis, whether it is the environmental, the economic or social one. It gives a voice to those who remain on the margins, look in the face a future that risks being catastrophic. They are stories involve us deeply, who ask for participation and action.
It is a mònito, a request for attention. Watching those films is a commitment, and for this reason, because the world knows, all the works, before everyone takes their own way in cinemas and other festivals, are Available in free streaming until June 21 at this link: https://festival.openddb.it/cinemambiente-2025.
Here are all the awarded films
**The Town That Drove Away ** by Grzegorz Piekarski, Natalia Pietsch (Poland 2025, 70 ‘).
**The Town That Drove Away ** It takes us to Anatolia, in the ancient village of Hasankeyf, a Kurdish majority settlement, which receives the order to move due to the imminent construction of a dam. The austere beauty of the landscape witnesses helplessly to the demolition of old houses, while the promise of a new life deprives the inhabitants of one’s identity, victims of a political blackmail that requires obedience and submission. Among those who resist, the emblematic figures of Burak, the local barber, emerge, who not married is likely to lose the right to a house, and Rengin, an elderly shepherd, forced to give up his animals. Of all their consolidated world, now fragile and destined to be torn away forever, only the pride of a deep sense of belonging and dignity will remain.
The jury (composed of Alex Bellini, Massimo Bernardi, Johannes Kostenzer, Petula Veljanovska, Ottavia Virzì) also assigned a special mention to:
Middletown by Jesse Moss, Amanda Mcbaine (USA 2025, 110 ‘)
Middletown tells a story that starts in the 90s in the New York user, where a group of restless teenagers, encouraged by an unconventional teacher, undertakes a student project for the use of audiovisual media. But during the course, young people come across a burning question of toxic waste and illegal landfills. Armed with video camera, they find themselves facing indifferent adults, corrupt politicians and the threats of a violent criminal organization, creating an investigation that shakes the entire community. A training story in which the reflections, thirty years later, of the intrepid students on the teachings of their professor Fred Isseks, together with the exclusive access to hundreds of hours of filming imbued with sincerity, humor and nostalgic spirit, become a bright example of civic courage.
The Smat award for the best short film He was assigned by the jury (composed of James Berclaz-Lewis, disturbance, Valeria Advantages), a:
Bloodline by Wojciech Węglarz (Poland 2024, 12 ‘)
Bloodline It shows the imposing fence that crosses the forest along the border between Poland and Belarus, conceived with the aim of stopping the waves of refugees towards the European Union, prevents a bison from reuniting with its original herd. A lost animal thus becomes a witness of dramatic events and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The jury also assigned a special mention to:
**Hic Svnt Dragones ** by Justin Fayard (France 2024, 13 ‘)
The dragons of mythology, clinging to the rocky walls, with the wide jaws and threatening sounds, slipped down the narrow valleys destroying everything they met on their path …
Blame – Bats, politics and a Planet Out of Balance … by Christian Frei (Switzerland 2025, 122 ‘)
Blame – Bats, Politics and a Planet Out of Balance … It is a reflection on the relationship between science, politics and media, which begins in February 2003, when Hong Kong becomes the starting point of the first great epidemic of the 21st century: the Sars. In taking their research on the nature of this virus, three scientists follow the thesis according to which the bats could be natural guests, in this way anticipating the hypotheses that Covid-19 also could have found origin in a cave, in the Chinese province of Yunnan. The outbreak of this last pandemic places Linfa Wang, Zhengli Shi and Peter Daszak at the center of an unprecedented media debate. Next to them, the fourth protagonist: the best known mammal in western culture as a harbinger of dark omens, although present on earth for over fifty million years.
Special awards and prizes
Special recognition “Gaetano Capizzi” assigned by the relative committee, composed of Silvana Dalmazzone, Marino Midena, Giulio Sangiorgio, the recognition «Gaetano Capizzi for the best film in the Made in Italy section goes to:
Valentina and the Moostri by Francesca Scalisi (Italy, Switzerland 2024, 80 ‘)
Valentina and the Moostri It is set in a Sicilian rural village near Niscemi. Here Valentina works crochet small roses, waiting to find a solution to its existential doubts. In the meantime, his father continues to take care of the plants, whose fruits, however, seem to no longer be born under the impending presence of the Muos (Mobile User Objecative System), huge antennas of the American army installed since the nineties inside the nearby centuries -old cork. The emancipation path of the young woman and her family events are closely linked to this place marked by environmental destruction, military presences and invisible electromagnetic waves that pervade landscapes and people. In the end, inspired by the ability to create beauty, Valentina manages to take her life in hand, towards a concrete change for itself and loved ones that surround her.
The Slow Food award is awarded to the film that has been best known the complex and articulated theme of the relationship between food, agriculture and the environment. And the jury composed of Barbara Nappini, Serena Milano, Roberto Burdese, Piero Sardo, chose
Mut by Giulio Squillacciotti (Italy 2025, 18 ‘)
Mut It tells the flow of the newspaper in a mountain pasture, an allegory of a summer season in the pastures of the “mut” – the mountain in the Bergamo dialect – which is repeated over the centuries from dawn to sunset. Through the gaze of two young breeders and their parents, the cyclicality of life in these places becomes a universal portrait of the link between humans and animals and of a family relationship made of gestures, affections, silences in total symbiosis with nature.
Established by the Festival and by the Arcobaleno social cooperative, for the film, chosen by the workers and workers of the cooperative, who best has been able to combine environmental issues and the social dimension. And this prize also goes to Valentina and the Moostri by Francesca Scalisi.
Established by the Festival and by CasaComune, assigned to the film or the author who is better able to reflect issues related to spirituality understood as a dimension strictly linked to the nature of which we are part. The award goes to:
Boundary dress. Move behind the scenes of the Italian stage by Opher Thomson (Italy 2025, 40 ‘)
Boundary dress. Move behind the scenes of the Italian stage It is a long and pressing sequence of photographic images leads us along the traces of a path that from the Slovenian border reaches the French one through Trieste, Verona, Venice, Milan, Turin, Bardonecchia. A journey in which apparently parallel routes are intertwined: on the one hand the daily life of stations, showcases, restaurants, homes and on the other the steps, the effort, the fear, the determination, the desire for those who are ready for anything to seek a better life. The experience of migration narrated by frames thus becomes a vision that opens up to family landscapes but at the same time capable of overturning prospects.
Source: Vanity Fair
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