 The feeling that the Val d’Aosta has for audiovisuals is showcased at FrontDoc, the Festival that expresses the soul of the region and unites the documentary genre with the theme of the border. Starting with the 2017 edition the Festival has also equipped itself with a laboratory for developing documentary projects: FrontLab, organized in collaboration with Stefilm International. Open to filmmakers of every nationality, it was held from 6 to 8 November and saw the participation of 10 projects, with two days of workshops and one day dedicated to the final pitch in front of a jury of experts which awarded € 1500 to the best project.

“In harmony with the soul of the festival, the laboratory also aims to follow projects that talk about the border, investigating the theme of frontiers”, says Edoardo Fracchia of Stefilm, “and not just in terms of content. In fact the objective is to open up to neighboring countries”.
“This is a small and jagged territory” continues Fracchia “therefore it has good narrative potential. There is a great desire to open up to the international industry: a workshop like FrontLab is extremely effective because new ideas are brought into circulation, it is possible to network with foreign professionals”.

“Some of our members” confirms the president of the APA-Associazione Professionisti dell’Audiovisivo Valle d’Aosta [Association of Audiovisual Professionals] Laurent Vicquéry “regularly work abroad, mainly in France and Switzerland, on productions for television as well as in the festival sphere. In this field the main role of the APA is that of making connections and sharing experiences, knowledge and contacts”.

In addition to initiatives like FrontLab, every year the APA offers its members training opportunities. In December 2017 the APA organized, again in collaboration with the Film Commission VdA, two days of training in the use of Adobe® Premiere and AfterEffects taught by the only certi ed Italian Adobe guru Paolo Baccolo. The APA offered the course to its members who thus took part free of charge”.