The clouds graze the mountain peaks, plunging the many farms and fields into a mosaic of light and shade. Nature is the director here, relentlessly. It is the backdrop, the protagonist and the temperamental weather machine. It sounds both a bitter and a mild tone, it demands a lot of the locals and the visitors but it also gives its all.
After the discovery of Ötzi in 1991, numerous TV teams, journalists and researchers came to Senales Valley. The locals have got used to it now, and have maybe even developed a certain media savviness. In any case, they have reacted to it with a range of creative services. South Tyrol, and Senales Valley in particular, has been the scene of many large film productions since 2007. The contrasts offered by the eternal ice, the quaint farmsteads with their dark brown wood structures, ancient customs, wild nature, and also hearty home cooking and traditional craftsmanship, in addition to charming accommodation and guest services, have provided a veritable treasure trove for all types of film production - from commercials to Hollywood epics.
The three most recent large productions, in particular, drew from the resources offered by Senales Valley. Western drama and “heimat” film: “The Dark Valley” combines both genres. The film tells the dark story of a village that is under the spell of the power-obsessed Brenner family. An American, Greider, appears on the scene, an outsider, who, it turns out, has a deep-lying connection with the Brenners and their crimes.
This Austro-German film based on the eponymous novel by Thomas Willmann was filmed in the ancient Marcheggund Kofelhof farms in Maso Corto which can still be visited as impressive, former film sets. Particularly in this production, country and people were included with considerable care and respect. Director, Andreas Prochaska, understood how to include people from the town and surrounding countryside as amateur actors in the action. As a result, professional and amateur actors, an international crew and local tradesmen all worked together on the set. A community project of which many still have great memories today. The film was also a great success outside of South Tyrol, winning a number of awards including the German, the Bavarian and the Austrian film prize.
A film by Andreas Prochaska with Sam Riley: Greider
Tobias Moretti: Hans Brenner
Paula Beer: Luzi Gader
Thomas Schubert: Lukas
Carmen Gratl: Gaderin (Luzi’s mother)
Clemens Schick: Luis Brenner
Helmuth A. Häusler: Hubert Brenner
Martin Leutgeb: Otto Brenner
Johann Nikolussi: Rudolf Brenner
Florian Brückner: Edi Brenner
Hans-Michael Rehberg: Brenner farmer
Erwin Steinhauer: Father Breisler
Xenia Assenza: Maria (Greider’s mother)
Franz Xaver Brückner: Franz (Maria’s groom)
Beatrix Brunschko: Lukas’ mother
Gerhard Liebmann: Lukas’ father
Heinz Ollesch: Blacksmith
Josef Griesser: Innkeeper
Johanna Bittenbinder: Innkeeper’s wife
Contemporary cinema live - against the backdrop. In 2016, the “Cinema in a barn” was held for the very first time, at the end of the valley, in a haybarn at Marchegghof farm.
“The Dark Valley” can be seen again this year on the original set.