Sedona International Film Festival to Host Screening of "Vendemmia"

The documentary film, "Vendemmia", will screen at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre in Sedona on Sept. 29th at 4 p.m. as part of a Sustainable Tourism Film Series.

SEDONA, ARIZONA, USA, September 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Filmmakers Sharon Boeckle and Krista Lee Weller are proud to announce the upcoming screening of their documentary film, "Vendemmia", as part of the Sedona International Film Festival’s Sustainable Tourism Film Series.

"Vendemmia", which explores the efforts to balance environmental sustainability in the Cinque Terre of Italy, will show on Thursday, Sept. 29 at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre at 4 p.m. The screening will be followed by a live Q&A discussion with the film’s directors—Sharon Boeckle and Krista Lee Weller—who will be in Sedona to host the screening personally.

“We are honored to end our Sustainable Tourism Film Series with the incredible 'Vendemmia',” says Patrick Schweiss, Director of the Sedona International Film Festival. “Not only is the Cinque Terre in Italy a stunningly beautiful place, it faces many of the same challenges in sustainable tourism that we face here in Sedona. Additionally, their winemaking region is a reflection of our winemaking region here in the Verde Valley and reflects the same issues we are dealing with here as well. It is such an important and timely film for our current conditions here, and it will be even more special having the filmmakers — Sharon Boeckle and Krista Lee Weller — here in Sedona to host the film and Q&A and give us updates on where Cinque Terre has come since the making of this film.”

Ten years ago, Boeckle and Weller set out to document the challenges of the residents of the Cinque Terre of Italy, who still make wine by hand in terraced vineyards, as their ancestors have done for over 1,000 years. They quickly discovered far more than an ancient winemaking tradition; they discovered a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site struggling to achieve a sustainable tourism that could withstand the pressures of three million annual visitors. In today’s modern world, those tourists are needed to keep the local economy going, but they also inadvertently threaten the history, environmental beauty, and traditions that are attracting them in the first place.

“That’s the challenge of sustainable tourism,” says Boeckle. “It’s not an easy balance to strike. What we witnessed ten years ago involved the conflicts of competing interests, an incredibly delicate environment in need of constant maintenance, and political motivations that create tension among the locals. Unfortunately, not much has changed in ten years, and some of our friends featured in the film or living in the villages say that these issues have even been exacerbated over the years.”

The film "Vendemmia" explores these issues through the eyes of some of its extraordinary residents, including a new-generation winemaker still using the ancient techniques and traditions of his ancestors in the fight to preserve his culture. It also explores the sometimes-radical measures taken ten years ago by the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre to create sustainable solutions for the preservation and restoration of the Cinque Terre’s economy and culture.

At the time of filming (between 2008 and 2012), strict measures to curtail and control influences of tourism were put into place by the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre, often to the dismay of locals who desired the freedom to choose for themselves what service and products were offered to visitors and whether international retail and hotel companies should be allowed to build within the villages. Boeckle and Weller bore witness to the cultural and political struggles which took place, but now ten years later, those struggles are still ongoing.

Some residents of the Cinque Terre say that the community now has its eyes on approaches taken by other Italian tourist magnets, such as Venice, which placed a ban on large cruise ships and more recently announced a limit to the number of visitors permitted into certain piazzas and iconic attractions in the city. To regulate access, the city added electronic turnstiles and entrance fees applicable for any “day trippers,” the name applied to visitors who come just for the day, snap photos for social media, and leave, contributing to the economy far less than tourists who stay for longer periods of time.

Officials in Venice also say that effort is needed to offset the economic loss incurred by these large groups of day tripping visitors, and that long-term, sustainable strategies need to be implemented to preserve a fragile ecosystem threatened by excessive tourism. Weller sees the Cinque Terre as very similar to Venice in that respect. “Whether Venice or the Cinque Terre, unfettered access to an area not structurally designed to withstand that kind of traffic is unsustainable,” says Weller. “Something’s got to give. These areas not only need sustainable solutions for managing the high number of tourists, but they also need to strike a balance between the influx of tourism and what types of tourism they want to allow without sacrificing a quality of life for the locals. But when locals depend on that tourism, the question then moves from, ‘Are control measures needed?’ to, ‘Who decides what those control measures will be?’”

"Vendemmia" will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please visit the festival’s website or call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona.

Sharon Boeckle
Sila Productions, LLC
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