Cinema in Verticale
Cinema in Verticale
Cinema in Verticale, the festival dedicated to cinema, culture and mountain sports, kicks off on February 6th.
Jan. 15, 2026
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Cinema in Verticale is a festival dedicated to cinema, culture, and mountain sports, founded in 1999 as a preview of the Valsusa Filmfest, a historic community film and cultural festival that reaches its 30th edition in 2026.
The festival was created with the aim of highlighting the mountains and their themes, chronicling their landscapes, sports, cultures, and communities. Over the years, Cinema in Verticale has become a highly anticipated and recognized event, attracting a large and passionate audience, offering meaningful moments of cultural interaction and sharing.
From February 6 to March 26, 2026, the festival offers nine free events at 8:45 PM in six municipalities—Almese, Caprie, Condove, Giaveno, Rivoli, and San Giorio di Susa—with a program spanning classic and contemporary mountaineering, travel and exploration, the protection of the Alpine landscape, highland communities, and the many forms of relationship between humanity and the mountains.
The evenings feature mountaineers, directors, historians, journalists, enthusiasts, experts, and firsthand accounts of the stories told on screen.
The festival opens on Friday, February 6th in Condove, at the Cinema Comunale, with an evening dedicated to the Vallone delle Cime Bianche, a pristine area in the upper Ayas Valley (Aosta Valley), part of the SPA "Glacial Environments of the Monte Rosa Group" and the European Natura 2000 Network.
The founding members of the Insieme per Cime Bianche Committee present "Il vallone delle Cime Bianche," a project to protect and enhance the natural and cultural landscape that showcases the uniqueness of this area, currently threatened by cableway projects.
Through images, audiovisual contributions, and firsthand accounts, the evening aims to offer the public an in-depth look at a place of extraordinary environmental, landscape, and symbolic value, at the center of a long and complex conservation battle.
Drawing on materials from the photography project "The Last Wild Valley. In Defense of the White Peaks," Gigi Giuliano will discuss the project with Annamaria Gremmo, Francesco Sisti, and Marco Soggetto.
On February 13th, the festival will stop in Rivoli, at the Cinema Teatro Borgonuovo, with an evening dedicated to Hermann Buhl: mountaineering historian Roberto Mantovani will present the film "Hermann Buhl: Beyond Every Summit," which retraces the life and achievements of the great Austrian mountaineer, who led the first solo ascent of Nanga Parbat without supplementary oxygen in 1953.
On February 19th, in Condove, Riccardo Topazio will present "Walter Bonatti in Bardonecchia," his documentary that, through testimonies, photographs, and period materials, recounts Bonatti's years in Bardonecchia and his deep connection with the community that welcomed him.
On February 26th, the festival will move to Caprie, at the Chiara Melesso Theater in Novaretto, with "Saddling and Departing": Paola Giacomini will recount her journey from Mongolia to Europe with two steppe horses, a symbolic 9,000-kilometer journey between East and West as a gesture of peace.
On March 5th, again in Condove, Roberto Mantovani will present the film "Monte Corno. It seemed like I was in the air" by Luca Cococcetta, dedicated to the first ascent of the Gran Sasso d'Italia, accomplished by Francesco De Marchi in 1573, a feat that predates the birth of modern mountaineering by more than two centuries.
On March 6th, at the CAI headquarters in Giaveno, Toni Farina will present "The Mountain Parks of Piedmont," a documentary on parks seen as laboratories for making utopia possible, places to test hypotheses of sustainability for the future of the human species.
On March 12th in Almese, at the Magnetto Theater, in collaboration with the CAI Almese section, Gabriele Canu will present "Altrove," a story in which mountaineering achievement gives way to adventure, irony, and the authentic bonds between climbers. The author will be in conversation with journalist Eloisa Giannese.
On March 19th at the Condove cinema, Stefano Ragazzo will present "Eternal Solo," a film by Andrea Cossu documenting his solo ascent of the Eternal Flame route in the heart of the Pakistani Karakoram. Following the screening, Ragazzo will be in conversation with journalist Linda Cottino.
The series will conclude on March 26th in San Giorio di Susa, in collaboration with the CAI UGET section of Bussoleno. Davide Demichelis will present "Se Chanta – Nino and the Val Maira of yesterday, today, and tomorrow." The documentary, starting with the portrait of a symbolic figure of the Cuneo mountains, narrates the tradition and future of the highland communities.
The Valsusa Filmfest association organizes Cinema in Verticale in collaboration with the Gruppo 33 association of Condove, with the CAI of Almese, Bussoleno and Giaveno, with the municipalities and the associations involved, with the patronage of the Unione Montana ValleSusa.
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