As a member of the technical jury, Luisa Vuillermoz presented the Grand Prix to Escargot, le grand voyage du petit-gris, already an award-winner at the Gran Paradiso Film Festival.
On Friday, 16 October, the Grande Salle at Le Delta, the provincial cultural centre in the heart of Namur, on the banks of the Sambre River, hosted the gala evening of the 32nd International Nature Festival in Namur (FINN) before a packed audience. The event is one of Europe’s leading nature film festivals.
In the presence of Yves Coppieters, Walloon Minister for the Environment, and numerous internationally renowned wildlife filmmakers, the evening gave a prominent place to the Gran Paradiso Film Festival. Under the spotlight at Le Delta, the festival from the Aosta Valley had the opportunity to introduce itself to the audience in Namur and, through it, to showcase an entire region: the peaks and valleys of Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy’s first national park and the kingdom of the Alpine ibex, as well as the Aosta Valley, a mountain region where people and nature have coexisted for centuries.
In keeping with this spirit of discovery, Polish filmmaker Hubert Gajda, winner of the Amateur Films Award, was offered a seven-day stay in Gran Paradiso, a special invitation to explore this remarkable region and its exceptional landscapes. For one evening, the Alps of the Aosta Valley came to the heart of Wallonia, offering spectators an invitation to travel and inspiring them to discover these extraordinary landscapes for themselves.
Gran Paradis also took centre stage in the awards ceremony. Once again invited to serve on the FINN’s technical jury, Luisa Vuillermoz, Director of the Grand Paradis Foundation and Artistic Director of the Gran Paradiso Film Festival, helped select the winners of the competition’s major professional awards, which featured 33 films this year. She took to the stage to present the Grand Prix to Escargot, le grand voyage du petit-gris by Lucas Allain and Basile Gerbaud (France, 2025), the very film that had received the Best Screenplay Award at the 29th Gran Paradiso Film Festival last August.
From the Faroe Islands to a French woodland, this documentary follows the incredible odyssey of a small garden snail, combining humour and poetry to tell a remarkable tale: a tiny epic that proves that nature’s greatest stories are sometimes hidden in its smallest creatures.
This journey from Cogne to Namur highlighted the strength of the partnership that has linked the Gran Paradiso Film Festival and FINN for several years. Founded in 1995 by Philippe Taminiaux, FINN shares with the Gran Paradiso Film Festival a commitment to environmental protection and raising public awareness. This partnership brings together an urban festival and a mountain festival around a shared conviction: nature filmmaking is a powerful tool for inspiring wonder and raising awareness.
“It was deeply moving to present FINN’s Grand Prix to a film that the Gran Paradiso Film Festival had already recognised this summer,” said Luisa Vuillermoz. “Escargot reminds us that wonder does not depend on the size of the animals being filmed, but on the quality of the filmmaker’s vision and storytelling. This award reaffirmed the strength of the bond between our two festivals, between Belgium and the Aosta Valley, as we work towards a shared mission: inspiring people to love nature so that they can better protect it.”
This success comes at a symbolic moment for the Gran Paradiso Film Festival, which is preparing for its 30th edition in 2027. The call for film submissions is already open. Building on this latest achievement, the GPFF intends to continue showcasing new perspectives on nature and the animal world, alongside its international partners.
Further information and the latest updates on the Gran Paradiso Film Festival are available at www.gpff.it.