The first snowfall, which gives the film its title, is what everyone waits for, what transforms everything: the landscape, shapes and even people. In the film an 11-year-old boy meets a Togolese man who has fled the war in Libya. The setting is that of the unspoiled Mocheni Valley, and more specifically, the city of Pergine Valsugana, a language island where two dialects are still spoken to this day, Italian and Bavarian German.
Palù del Fersina, an Italian municipality of just 173 inhabitants in the province of Trento, is home to the church dating back to the 1400s that hosts a number of scenes in the film. The ‘cabin’, the stone lodge where Michele and his friends go, is located in Stelder.
Climbing higher, to 1700 metres, is Pichi Forest, one of the few larch forests in this area of Trentino, where Michele and his friends spend their time playing.
The “faggio del mas dei boci” in Sant’Orsola, also in Mocheni Valley, is 30 metres tall and 200 years old: it is here that Michele seeks refuge alone; he comes here when he catches his mother at home with a man.
In the district of Serso, in Pergine, is Lake Restel, a shimmering mirror of water surrounded by lush vegetation where Michele invites Dani to go swimming.
Last but not least, the final scene, in which Michele tells Dani how he lost his father, was filmed on the peak of Sopra Cunella, 2,037 metres above sea level, which affords a breathtaking view over Mocheni Valley and Alta Valsugana.
The first snowfall, which gives the film its title, is what everyone waits for, what transforms everything: the landscape, shapes and even people. In the film an 11-year-old boy meets a Togolese man who has fled the war in Libya. The setting is that of the unspoiled Mocheni Valley, and more specifically, the city of Pergine Valsugana, a language island where two dialects are still spoken to this day, Italian and Bavarian German.
Palù del Fersina, an Italian municipality of just 173 inhabitants in the province of Trento, is home to the church dating back to the 1400s that hosts a number of scenes in the film. The ‘cabin’, the stone lodge where Michele and his friends go, is located in Stelder.
Climbing higher, to 1700 metres, is Pichi Forest, one of the few larch forests in this area of Trentino, where Michele and his friends spend their time playing.
The “faggio del mas dei boci” in Sant’Orsola, also in Mocheni Valley, is 30 metres tall and 200 years old: it is here that Michele seeks refuge alone; he comes here when he catches his mother at home with a man.
In the district of Serso, in Pergine, is Lake Restel, a shimmering mirror of water surrounded by lush vegetation where Michele invites Dani to go swimming.
Last but not least, the final scene, in which Michele tells Dani how he lost his father, was filmed on the peak of Sopra Cunella, 2,037 metres above sea level, which affords a breathtaking view over Mocheni Valley and Alta Valsugana.
Dani, a refugee who has fled the civil war in Libya, comes from Togo. He’s living in Pergine while waiting for his documents, with a daughter he doesn’t want, where he strikes up a close relationship with Michele, a young local boy who lost his father way too soon.
