PIEDMONT CHRONICLE - L'Arvista Piemontèisa

12/14/2007

TURIN FILM FESTIVAL

Footlights, spotlights, spangles and paillette, no thank you. This is the catch phrase of the 25th edition of Turin Film Festival which has drawn attention to the city from November 23 till December 1, 2007. The recipe is simple and authentic: cinema, cinema and cinema again. An event appreciated for simplicity and common sense, no arguments over the films, no gossiping about actors and film directors but only film buffs willing to watch and discuss films.

An important festival featuring Italian and foreign films; Italy counts on three main festivals: Venice with its tradition and parterre of stars; Rome with its previews and its center of the Italian film making industry and Turin, known for the niche and experimental cinema.
A creative laboratory started out in 1982 as an International Film Festival for the Young and strongly supported by students, university professors and professionals of the field. That’s why the headquarters are in via Verdi, near Palazzo Nuovo, Università degli Studi di Torino). As the years went by, the Turin Film Festival has undergone transformation, growth and has been recognized for its precise analysis of the complex mechanism of film making and its contents.
The balance of this year is clear: the visitors turn-out has increased by 79% versus last year, season tickets have increased by 50% and the movie theaters were packed with people.
No red carpet to walk down for local and foreign stars like in Rome and Venice; Turin had the brilliant idea to suggest Nanni Moretti as the artistic director. He is as famous as simple, perfect for a Savoy scenery.
Moretti has driven the train of the ‘fabbrica dei sogni’ and his popularity has contributed to its increasing success. Film director and author of socio-political films, implicit and often defiling, he has won the public approval with films like ‘Caro diario’, ‘Ecce bombo’, ‘La stanza del figlio’ and ‘Il caimano’.
The Festival resembles him: reflective, scrupulous, analytic and curt. The retrospective shows were dedicated to two major authors in the overview of independent cinema: John Cassavetes and Wim Wenders. 230 films sectioned after previewing 2.500.
The sections are 9 : ‘Torino 25’, is an International Feature Film competition dedicated to the discovery of new filmmakers. This year there were 15 works including 9 debut works, that competed for best film, best actress and best actor awards. ‘Anteprime’ has proposed 7 films that will be distributed in Italy after being presented at the Festival; ‘Panorama italiano’ has shown 5 films: 4 of them were in a world preview in a non competitive section dedicated to Italian cinema between fiction and documentary; ‘Fuori concorso’, between research and performance, authoriality and trend, it has offered a synthesis of the most significant ideas of the year ; ‘Lo stato delle cose’ has suggested the theme of the cinema of the imaginary to explain the shattered reality we live in; ‘La zona’ explores the more advanced and experimental vanguards of contemporary productions that find little space in normal film distribution either in movie theaters or television programming; ‘Italian.doc’ is dedicated to Italian film or video documentary; ‘Italiana.corti’ is dedicated to shorts and finally ‘L’amore degli inizi’ has turned its attention to the Italian beginnings in the late Fifties and early Sixties with the first films by Tinto Brass, Gianfranco De Bosio, Francesco Rosi, Paolo e Vittorio Taviani, Florestano Vancini.
The movie theaters were: Cinema Massimo (Via Verdi), Ambrosio (Corso Vittorio Emanuele) and cinema Greenwich in via Po.
Il Circolo dei Lettori (Via Bogino), a new cultural reality in Turin, has been the meeting point for press releases and film presentations.
The best movie prize has been awarded to the Irish ‘Garage’ by Lenny Abrahamson; ‘La naciòn Mapuce’ by Fausta Quattrini has won Italiana.doc for the best Italian documentary. The jury special prize went to ‘The elephant and the sea’ by Woo Ming Jin ; best actress Joan Chen for the Australian film ‘The home song story’ by Tony Ayres and best actor Kim Kang-Woo for South Korea film ‘Gyeongui seon/The railroad’ by Park Heung – sik.
The jury special prize went also to ‘L’esame di Xhodi’ by Gianluca e Massimiliano De Serio and a special mention for ‘Biutiful cauntry’ by Esmeralda Calabria, Giuseppe Ruggiero and Andrea D’Ambrosio.
The film ‘Giganti’ by Fabio Mollo has been awarded the title of best short in the Italian section Italiana.corti.
‘The savages’ by Tamara Jenkins has been screened both at Ambrosio and Massimo’s on Massimo’s the inaugural evening of Novembre 23, 2007 which has been followed by an elegant and exclusive party in the premises of the Mole Antonelliana with actors, journalists and film directors. The festival has closed on December 1 with ‘Eastern Promises’ by David Cronenberg. Nanni Moretti will be in charge of the event also next year.
Torino Film Festival contributes to discovering new talents and emerging cinemas, presenting famous or evolving Italian and international film directors. The focus is centered on the more innovative artistic trends and to the sophisticated taste of demanding film buffs.

Gloria Cardano