Film and theatre

Beneath the protective wing of Mont Blanc in Courmayeur, “Noir in Festival” has celebrated the social and cinema rituals of this literary genre each December since 1933. Since 2001 a new structure, the Palanoir, has played host to competition films and special events. The programme includes a section dedicated to cinema “noir” in the form of films, documentaries and meetings with actors and directors, while part is dedicated to literature with book and writers’ presentations. Every year the Festival presents a career award to a great mystery writer, and an award for the best “noir” novel of the year, while the Cinema Valle d’Aosta award is presented to the best film.

"Cinema Trails" is an international festival of silent cinema accompanied by live music. It takes place in Aosta during August and awards the best musical compositions created as accompaniment for the works proposed by the artistic committee.

This film festival is held in Cervinia and Valtournenche in July each year. At an altitude of 2000m, it’s officially the “Highest Festival in Europe”, with the aim of promoting mountain cinema through around 50 screenings grouped into different categories. Typical themes include climate, adventure, sport, culture and history. Many of the films screened have received recognition or been featured in the most important international festivals in the sector. Cervino CineMountain also offers “Espace Montagne”, a series of mountain-related initiatives and events. The space dedicated to this has a bookshop, a newspaper library, a projection room, an exhibition room, an area for book presentations and a climbing wall.

During July and August, several Val d'Aosta mountain locations host Filmontagna, the festival of mountain cinema, where around twenty films about the mountain and mountain-climbing take place at a variety of venues. The festival moves from place to place within Val d'Aosta territory, including small towns, lakes, piazzas and churches. Films are selected from the best national and international productions of mountain cinema, and as well as upcoming cinema, each year several old classics are included too. Directors, protagonists and mountaineers often take part in screening evenings, enabling viewers to ask questions about what they’ve seen.

Ente Progetto Natura is an association that deals with nature conservation through the development of nature cinema. They’ve organised the “Stambecco d’Oro” international Nature Film Festival in Cogne since 1984. The initial years were dedicated to amateurs, however, the event has since grown in international importance, becoming comparable to the British Wildscreen Festival in Film and theatre and the American Jackson Hole Festival in Wyoming. Films produced by some of the most important production companies in the world are screend, including National Geographic, BBC and ABC. Awards are presented to the best films, and in addition to film showings, the festival also features conferences and exhibitions.

The “Scenario Sensibile” Festival began in 1999 from the collaboration between the Envers Theatre Company, Aosta Municipal Council and Ente Teatrale Italiano. Defined as “a treasure trove”, the festival is aimed at those who genuinely love the theatre, presenting both classical and modern works. The term "Scenario" evokes the festival's vocation to inform, while the term "Sensibile" (sensitive) gives colour to this panorama of productions, where the aim is to provoke a deeply emotional response from the audience.