The 39th edition of Torino Film Festival, Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie cinema, kicks off Friday with the international premiere of “Sing 2.” It is the country’s first festival held in venues with 100% seating capacity since COVID-19 struck, and it Will The first in-person edition will be assembled by Stefano Francia di Celle as artistic director. He debuted the online event last year due to pandemic. Di Celle is currently reviving Torino in the digital age.
Alberto Barbera is the current Venice champion. Since its inception, the festival has been dedicated to promoting newcomers. These included Michelangelo Framartino and Luca Guadagnino.“Il Buco”) and Pietro Marcello (“Martin Eden”), who got a crucial early boost from their launches there. Di Celle’s vision going forward, he told Variety,It is He calls it its roots “militant”Tradition, but he’s also more open for bold experimental films and mainstream movies.
Below are edited excerpts of the conversation.
Torino is a place for international indie filmmaking, where Italians have the chance to shine. What’s changing under your watch?
The internet has opened up new avenues for moviegoers to watch indie and auteur films. This was how we did our work before the pandemic. With film viewing online experiencing a massive acceleration and almost two years since the pandemic, we now have to face this problem. A festival will be held in November 2021, allowing us to re-engage with the tradition of supporting movie theaters, finding new auteurs all over the globe, and giving space for Italians making their first movies.
Why did you make this decision? “Sing 2,”Director Garth Jennings will be opening the show,
We basically chose it for three reasons: It’s a film that speaks to lots of different audiences; it’s very sophisticated narratively; and it’s a hymn to Going back to movie theatres. Thematically it’s also about a group of artists who want to emerge and improve their possibilities to express themselves artistically – and do that very boldly, just like our auteurs who experiment often amid difficult production constraints. Garth Jennings was just a teenager when he started his own indie business in the U.K. He was able to get Universal to sign on for his incredible work. “Sing” debut.
Talk to me about Torino’s Monica Bellucci celebrations
One of the movies that is already making waves is “The Girl in the Fountain”By [newcomer] Antongiulio Panizzi, in which Bellucci portrays Anita Ekberg. It’s a dialogue between cinema of the past and the present and also a dialogue at a distance between two divas who have experienced — and in Bellucci’s case is still experiencing — great celebrity. This, as it is often, has kept them from speaking differently. This film is the perfect platform to honor Monica Bellucci and her Stella Delle Mole award for artistic innovation in a time where she is trying new things.
Also, you are celebrating the Lebanese duo Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige who made it to Lebanon recently “Memory Box”With a retro twist, they used audio recordings and journals that they made as children in Beirut in the 1980s. Why?
They connect Turin’s tradition with new frontiers of filmmaking. They alternate between filmmaking as well as visual arts. This gives them a wide view of the potentialities of film and visual arts when it comes down to culture or politics. Their work is about memory and resistance. It’s about the ability of cinema to confront contemporary realities with tragic and hot-button themes. This retro is part a militant strand throughout the festival that you also find in the documentary (international, and Italian) sections.