Fiore mio – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

The film debut of Paolo Cognetti, who, following the success of the adaptation of his book The Eight Mountains, now documents people who live far from the noise of the valleys, around the vast Monte Rosa massif, between Piedmont, the Aosta Valley, and Switzerland.

It all began with a drought that struck the village of Estoul, located at an altitude of 1,700 meters above sea level, where he once lived. This is not a film about how to save the mountains, but about how the mountains can save us. The director roams them with his faithful dog, Laki. In mountain refuges, he talks to people who have chosen a life at high altitudes. The melancholy of the approaching autumn and the solitude among unyielding rocks create the atmosphere of these places.

Marta Squinobal runs the only vegan mountain refuge in the entire Alps. She works with Sherpa Sete Tamang, welcoming those who want to look inward anew — here, at 3,585 meters above sea level. No one here speaks openly about the changes that are coming — not even in this place.

"When nature has had enough of us, it will simply throw us out and not look back," explains a meditation instructor. The beauty of the Alps here remains untouched by mass tourism, and the story Cognetti presents unfolds before us in silence.