Turin FF: Moretti promises “earnest and cheerful” event
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Renewing its 2007 slogan, "earnest and cheerful", Nanni Moretti, the artistic director of the Turin Film Festival (November 21-29), presented the line-up of the 26th edition, which will blend political and intimate cinema and family stories.
The festival opens with Oliver Stone’s W.
, which ushers out the Bush era, and is part of a programme comprising 15 films in competition, 22 out of competition and another 200 in various sections.
There are many European films though no Italian titles in or out of competition. "We saw a lot of Italian features, but didn’t feel that any were right for us,” said Moretti, who in his first term last year as artistic director had created the special section Italian Panorama.
There are eight debut features among the competition films vying for Best Film (€25,000), the Special Jury Prize (€10,000) and the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor. There are three titles from the US and one from Mexico, a co-production between Chile and Brazil, and a film each from Canada, Australia and China.
European cinema, on the other hand, is represented by seven films, from Germany, Belgium and Slovenia, along with three European co-productions.
Out of competition there are 22 films making their world, European or Italian premieres. Moretti mentioned those that have already secured Italian distribution: The Wave (BIM), Tony Manero (Ripley), Lake Tahoe (Archibald), The Escapist (Lucky Red), Katyn (Movimento Film) and Let the Right One In (Bolero Film).
The section The State of Things, with 15 titles, includes the Italian films Armando e la politica by Chiara Malta, Di madre in figlia by Andrea Zambelli and La conquista della vita by Silvano Agosti.
There are three retrospectives, to Jean-Pierre Melville, the British Renaissance from 1980-1990 and Roman Polanski. The latter includes a public Q&A between Polanski and Moretti.
The section L'amore degli Inizi comprises discussions by Peter Del Monte, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Salvatore Piscicelli, Marco Tullio Giordana, Claudio Caligari and Paolo Virzì on their debut features.
There are no obstacles in the way of Moretti being named to helm the festival a third time – "I’m not actually preparing a new film,” he admits – yet he is cautious. “We will see in early December. Right now we’re just concentrating on holding a good festival," he said.