In Cervina: mountaineering and exploration on the Matterhorn at CineMountain

From 25 July to 1 August 2026, Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche will once again become the hub of international mountain cinema with the 29th edition of Cervino CineMountain, Europe’s highest-altitude film festival. For eight days, the Matterhorn will become a place where cinema, mountaineering, exploration, art and culture come together through a programme featuring 41 films in competition, 14 Italian premieres, 2 world premieres, 6 films out of competition and Cervino CineMountain Kids, totalling over fifty screenings. For a long time, the mountains were portrayed as a refuge, a place separated from the rest of the world. Today, however, it is one of the places where the present manifests itself most clearly. Climate change leaves its mark here before anywhere else; the relationship between communities and the land is constantly being redefined, whilst tradition and transformation coexist in an increasingly fragile balance. The mountains are no longer merely the backdrop for sporting or mountaineering feats: they are a privileged vantage point from which to interpret our times. The film selection for Cervino CineMountain 2026 stems from this realisation. A journey spanning four continents that brings together documentary, fiction, animation and hybrid forms to explore a universal question: how do we inhabit the world today? From the villages of Armenia to the steppes of Mongolia, from the mountains of China to the Himalayas, from Kenya to the Alps, the films depict communities that preserve ancient knowledge, young people torn between the desire to leave and the desire to stay, landscapes changing under the effects of the climate crisis, and new forms of exploration and relationship with nature. In the International Year of Pastures and Shepherds, proclaimed by the United Nations, pastoralism becomes one of the festival’s major themes, featuring works such as *The Mountain Won’t Move*, *The Wolves Always Come at Night*, *A Fire There* and *Barren Lands – Terre Aride*. Similarly, the dialogue between tradition and modernity runs through films such as *Whispers in May*, winner of the CPH:DOX Grand Prize, and *The Lama’s Son*, whilst the landscape takes centre stage in stories dedicated to the ecological transformation of the mountains. Among the new features of the 2026 edition, Spazio Green stands out: a day entirely dedicated to the environment and the major challenges of climate change, complementing talks with distinguished guests, film premieres and special events.

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