From early July till early October, Alto Adige TV, Telebelluno, Teledolomiti, Telefriuli and Trentino TV will be airing the second season of the ” NOI Dolomiti UNESCO” feature. All the episodes are also available online, on the UNESCO Dolomites YouTube channel.
A way to tell the story of the Dolomites
Luciana from Cibiana di Cadore, who grows berry fruit using permaculture methods; Michel and Romina, who reopened the Passo Santner refuge in the Catinaccio group, after six years of closure; David, who flies his drone among the pinnacles of the Friulian Dolomites, recording sights inaccessible to the human eye; Elisa and Alessia, who attend middle and elementary schools, but who will always help grandfather Giorgio with work in his mountain pasture, under the Pale di San Martino. These are just some of the people featured in the opening episodes of “Noi Dolomiti UNESCO” (We, the UNESCO Dolomites): a TV project for the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, directed by Giambattista Zampieri. The stories of those who live and work in the Dolomites are told alongside descriptions of various cultural initiatives in the region, accounts by those who study its geology and landscape, and important topics in relation to shared management of this Heritage.
Looking is a way to understand each other
Of course, the programmes are directed at a general audience, but special attention is focused on the local communities, and on their desire and need to feel they are custodians of the land in which they live, and which UNESCO has recognised as a World Heritage Site to be valued and protected. Hence the importance of involving local broadcasters, generally watched by those who now, with the addition of “Noi Dolomiti UNESCO”, have more opportunities to see themselves represented. Indeed, the programmes give them an added incentive to believe in the potential of the Dolomite region, in the need to support the mountain communities, and the need to establish and maintain that fragile balance between development and environmental protection, which may involve some brave personal and political choices. So, we can learn to understand each other by looking at places, such as those in the World Heritage area, which are both similar and also very different. Producers, refuge managers, administrators, students and cultural leaders from South Tyrol, Trentino, Belluno and Friuli certainly all have something to teach and something to learn from one other. Talking to each other is always the first step!