From June 26 to 28, 2026, the 18th edition of the “Ostana Prize – Writings in Mother Tongue” returns, bringing margins to the center and experiencing linguistic biodiversity as a free and concrete practice.
The three days of the Prize brought together the eight awarded in a context of discussion and sharing, in the spirit of the coexistence that characterizes the Ostana Prize. Cultural meetings, concerts, and literary presentations have punctuated a rich and participatory program, transforming the village of Ostana into a space for dialogue between languages and cultures.
An event that, in the heart of the Occitan valleys, renews the commitment to the protection and enhancement of minority languages and linguistic diversity.
Friday 26
This year, in addition to the usual three days, the Award has started a new tradition: an introductory day held the previous Thursday, with two meetings dedicated to the challenges that minority languages face today: the long journey of linguistic rights in Italy and the opportunities —and risks — of artificial intelligence for less widespread languages, with Domenico Morelli (edited by Fredo Valla) and Carlo Zoli of Smallcodes. During the evening, the inaugural Occitan Ball of the Ostana Prize was held with Aire d’Ostana.
The festival kicked off on Friday, June 26, in the presence of the mayor of Ostana, Giacomo Lombardo, and the artistic director of the Ostana Prize, Ines Cavalcanti. Together, they recalled the value of this year’s motto, “Es sus la talvèra qu’es la libertat.” If the talvèra indicates the edge of the field, the strip of land that is not plowed to allow the plow to maneuver, then this is the passage space, the threshold between the orderly and the wild, the edge where there can be the freedom to be.
The inauguration was also an important moment to retrace the birth of this year’s motto song, which follows the guiding phrase, composed by the Ostana Collective (Flavio Giacchero, Marzia Rey, Luca Pellegrino, Paola Bertello) and depicted by Eliana Barbera and Luca Percivalle.
Occitan Language Prize Jean-Frédéric Brun began its three-day conference and debates, also reflecting on the integration work of the Occitan Pen Club, of which Brun has been president since 2007, and which has allowed the lingua d’oc to be recognized as one of the world’s great cultures.
The first evening was then dedicated to cinema: Antonello Zanda moderated the meeting, also presenting the Babel Film Festival, which annually renews its collaboration with the Ostana Prize. The partnership takes the form of a mutual exchange: a selected jury of the Ostana Prize awards an award during the Babel Film Festival, while the Babel Film Festival chooses the Cinema of the Year Award, which is then presented as part of the Ostana Prize. The evening opened with the presentation of the short film that won the Ostana Prize at the ninth edition of the Babel Film Festival: “Si seus accappiaus” by Simone Paderi,
Following this, we met with the 2026 Cinema Prize winner Dorino Minigutti, Friulian director of the film “Si Vîf – Une vite di musicant”, which sublimates the story of a musician on universal themes. “In his works, the territory is not simply a local backdrop, but the root of a cultural journey that touches on the living relationship between language and land. People, stories, and communities live “for” and “in” the language that is a natural instrument of expression, without rhetoric or folkloristic drift. His work shows how the use of a minority language in cinema can emerge from nostalgic intent and become a current and conscious node of the real world and its narrative, of its being “behind” and “on the horizon” of our history (at a personal and collective time).”
Thus ended the inaugural evening of the Ostana Prize, the first moment of meeting and sharing an edition that, this year, turns 18 (and comes of age!) and puts the richness of mother tongues, culture and dialogue between communities at the centre as always.
Foto: Fabio Ferrero
Find out how the other days of the Ostana Prize went: