08/11/2008

Renewing its 2007 slogan, "earnest and cheerful", Nanni Moretti, the artistic director of the Turin Film Festival (November 21-29), today 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.

TORINO 26 Competition
Bitter & Twisted, Christopher Weekes (Australia, 2008)
Demain, Maxime Giroux (Canada, 2008)
The Shaft, Chi Zhang (China, 2008)
Donne-Moi La Main , Pascal-Alex Vincent (France/Germany, 2008)
Entre Os Dedos, Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra (Portugal/Brazil, 2008)
Helen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joe Lawlor and Christine M…
film profile], Joe Lawlor and Christine Mollowy (Ireland/UK, 2008)
Mein Freund Aus Faro [+see also:
interview: Nana Neul
film profile], Nana Neul (Germany, 2007)
Momma's Man, Azazel Jacobs (US, 2008)
The New Year Parade, Tom Quinn (US, 2008)
We've Never Been to Venice [+see also:
film review
film profile], Blaz Kutin (Slovenia, 2008)
Non-Dit, Fien Troch (Belgium, 2008)
Prince of Broadway, Sean Baker (US, 2008)
Quemar Las Naves, Francisco Franco (Mexico, 2007)
Tony Manero, Pablo Larrain (Chile/Brazil, 2008)
The Wave [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Dennis Gansel (Germany, 2008)

Out of competition
Night and Day, Hong Sangsoo (South Korea, 2008)
Dream, Kim Ki-Duk (South Korea/Japan, 2008)
The Edge of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile], John Maybury (UK, 2008)
24 City, Jia Zhang Ke (China, 2008)
The Escapist [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Rupert Wyatt (Ireland/UK, 2007)
The Lemon Tree [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Eran Riklis (Israel/Germany/France, 2008)
Filth and Wisdom [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Madonna (UK, 2008)
Gigantic, Matt Aselton (US, 2008) (Dist. BIM)
Highway World - Living, Changing, Growing, Martin Hans Schmitt (Germany, 2007)
Katyn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrzej Wajda
interview: Michal Kwiecinski
film profile], Andrzej Wajda (Poland, 2007)
Kurus, Woo Ming-Jin (Malaysia, 2008)
Lake Tahoe, Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico, 2008)
Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile], Tomas Alfredson (Sweden, 2008)
Mateo Falcone, Eric Vuillard (France, 2008)
New Orleans Mon Amour, Michael Almereyda (US, 2008)
Of Time and the City [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Terence Davies (UK, 2008)
Real Time, Randall Cole (Canada, 2008)
Rumba [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Dominique Abel and Fiona Go…
film profile], Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy (France, 2008)
Les Sept Jours [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz (France/Israel, 2008)
Somers Town [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Shane Meadows (UK, 2008)
W., Oliver Stone (US, 2008)
Wendy and Lucy, Kelly Reichardt (US, 2008)

The State of Things
Armando e la politica , Chiara Malta (Italy, 2008)
The Baby Formula, Alison Reid (Canada, 2008)
Le Chant des mariees [+see also:
trailer
film profile] Karin Albou (France, 2008)
La conquista della vita, Silvano Agosti (Italy, 2008)
Di madre in figlia, Andrea Zambelli (Italy, 2008)
The Exiles, Kent Mackenzie (US, 1961)
Le Feu, le sang, les etoiles, Caroline Deruas Garrel (France, 2008)
United Red Army, Koji Wakamatsu (Japan, 2008)
Hunger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Hastings-Smith Rob…
interview: Steve McQueen
film profile], Steve McQueen (UK/Ireland, 2008)
Made in America, Stacy Peralta (US, 2008)
Mai 68, La Belle ouvrage, Jean-Luc and Loic Magneron (France, 2008)
The Sun Street Boys [+see also:
film review
film profile], Gyorgy Szomjas (Hungary, 2007)
No Son Invisibles: Maya Women and Microfinance, Featuring Muhammad Yunus, Melissa Eidson (Mexica/US, 2008)
Religulous, Larry Charles (US, 2008)
Sidney Poitier: Un outsider à Hollywood, Catherine Arnaud (France, 2008)

La Zona
Still Walking, Hirokazu Kore-Eda (Japan, 2008)
Le Battement d'ailes d'un papillon - Film sur un film inacheve, Aleksandr Balagura (France/Ukraine, 2008)
El cant dels ocells Albert Serra (Spain, 2008)
Historias extraordinarias, Mariano Llinas (Argentina, 2008)
Now Showing, Raya Martin (Philippines, 2008)
Nucingen Haus, Raoul Ruiz (France/Chile, 2008)
Pane/Piazza delle Camelie, Tonino De Bernardi (Italy, 2008)
Parade, Brandon Cahoon (US, 2008)
Trilogia: il Pensiero, lo Sguardo, la Parola, Luciano Emmer (Italy, 2008)
A Zona [+see also:
film review
film profile], Sandro Aguilar (Portugal, 2008)

(Translated from Italian)