Central Apennines: A Story of Co-existence (Rewilding Europe)

“The Central Apennines: A Story of Co-existence” is a beautiful documentary by award-winning French filmmaker Emmanuel Rondeau that showcases the work being carried out by the Rewilding Apennines team to create conditions where communities and wild nature can flourish together.

Through captivating videography, it depicts nature recovery and wildlife comeback in this unique part of Italy, and shows how people’s emotional connections with animals such as bear and wolves are changing as a result of rewilding.

Efforts to enhance co-existence between people and nature in the Central Apennines are grounded in the reality of how people living in the landscape interact with wildlife on a daily basis. Emmanuel’s documentary intertwines numerous personal stories, including efforts to help people live alongside the area’s endangered Marsican brown bear population – for example, through the installation of electric fences to protect property and livestock. It also portrays the rewilding team’s work to restore the free flow of water in the Giovenco River through dam removal. This is not only advancing nature recovery in and around the river, but has the potential to benefit local communities through the development of nature-based tourism in the Giovenco Valley.

This is the fifth installment in a series of inspiring short films by Emmanuel Rondeau – called the Wilder Europe series – produced with financial support from global law firm Hogan Lovells.