Central Film Commission

The Central Film Commission disseminates, produces and stores films and documentaries on the mountains, mountaineering and climbing and Alpine flora and fauna. It promotes film shows in local CAI branches, schools and other cultural associations throughout Italy.
 

Inspired by the work of Vittorio Sella, a photographer and mountaineer whose life spanned the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the Film Commission was set up in 1951, at the initiative of CAI Members Rolandi and Costa, and formed the initial core of the Film Library. It was subsequently known as a Central Technical Team.
 
 
Its cine cameras and technical equipment for making films and documentaries were entrusted in those years to mountaineers involved in mountaineering expeditions throughout the world. They made films of enormous historical interest, illustrating mountaineering techniques and the life of the pioneers and main actors in the great ascents.
 

In the years that followed, the Commission enriched its film library with numerous films and documentaries of the Trento Mountain Film Festival made by the mountaineers themselves. It also set up the Cineteca Storica dell’Alpinismo [Historic Mountaineering and Climbing Film Library], thanks to some important bequests.
 

Today, with 466 titles in the catalogue available to local branches, the CAI Film Library is an important documentary heritage.
 

The  Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Montagna e dell’Esplorazione Città di Trento, one of the most important events in this sector in the world, was started by the founders of the Film Commission. The Festival has been held in the city of Trent every year since 1952.

Film catalogue

Go to Central Technical Teams

Go to Central and National Schools