Film Festival in Torino 2009

By Linda Winsh-BolardWe might never see even half of what is presented at any film festival. It does not get distributed for whatever the reason. But we might be interested to know what is out there, I know I am, and who the critics like ; this is who and what they liked this year in Torino:

27TH TORINO FILM FESTIVAL – THE AWARDS

TORINO 27

The Jury of Torino 27 – Feature Film Competition of the 27th Torino Film Festival, composed of Sandro Petraglia (President, Italy), Anna Biller (United States), Rui Nogueira (Portugal), Maya Sansa (Italy), György Szomjas (Hungary) awards the following prizes:

Best Film (25,000 euros) to: LA BOCCA DEL LUPO by Pietro Marcello (Italy, 2009, 67’)

Jury Special Award (10,000 euros) ex-aequo to:

CRACKIE by Sherry White (Canada, 2009, 94’) and

GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH by Damien Chazelle (USA, 2009, 82’)

Best Actress Award to:

CATALINA SAAVEDRA for the film LA NANA by Sebastián Silva (Chile, 2009, 94’)

Best Actor Award ex-aequo to:

ROBERT DUVALL and BILL MURRAY

for the film GET LOW by Aaron Schneider (USA, 2009, 100’)

ITALIANA.DOC

The Jury of italiana.doc of the 27th Torino Film Festival, composed of Marta Donzelli (Italy), Stefano Mordini (Italy), Jean-Pierre Rehm (France) awards the following prizes:

Best Italian Documentary, in collaboration with Persol (10,000 euros) to:

VALENTINA POSTIKA IN ATTESA DI PARTIRE by Caterina Carone
“For the complexity of the story and her ability to depict over 60 years of Italian history with an uncommonly light hand.

For her study of a videographic family memory that is transformed into a collective memory.”

Jury Special Award (5,000 euros) to (ex-aequo):

CORDE by Marcello Sannino
“For the tenacity and perseverance with which he studies reality and his ability to create emotions through the strength of his relationship with his protagonists.”

and

THE CAMBODIAN ROOM - SITUATIONS WITH ANTOINE D'AGATA by Tommaso Lusena and Giuseppe Schillaci
“For the precision of its focus and the expressive strength of its staging, as it studies the journey of an artist and the crucial motivation behind his search.”

Special mention
JE SUIS SIMONE – LA CONDITION OUVRIÈRE by Fabrizio Ferraro

“For its courage in mixing staging and documentary, past and present, film and literature.”

ITALIANA.CORTI

The Jury of italiana.corti of the 27th Torino Film Festival, composed of Caroline Deruas (France), Giovanni Davide Maderna (Italy), Valia Santella (Italy), awards the following prizes:

Best Italian Short Film, (10,000 euros) to:

NOTTURNO STENOPEICO by Carlo Michele Schirinzi
“With originality, the film studies in depth the physical substance of images, taking on one of the most urgent contemporary dramas and sparking the direct participation of the spectators.”

Jury Special Award – Kodak Short Film Award (5,000 euros in motion picture film) to:

RIVIERA 91 by Gabriele Di Munzio
“An extremely personal look at a city and its inhabitants, it becomes narration and rhythm, an investigation of memory and the present.”
The Jury also awards

a Special Mention to:

SCORDATI by Progetto Funes
“A collective work with many viewpoints which is able to depict the confused state of an amnesiac and to accompany him through the meanders of memory.”

SPAZIO TORINO

The Jury of Spazio Torino – Regional Competition of the 27th Torino Film Festival, composed of 20 readers of TorinoSette (Valentina Castelli, Igor Catrano, Manuela Caudana, Cinzia Colonia, Enrico Di Pietro, Manuela Digrandi, Claudia Elia, Paola Giachello, Valentina Gonella, Giulia Gribaudi, Lisa Lardon, Paola Mariotto, Marco Monfredini, Raffaella Moretto, Giovanni Perucca, Elisa Ravarino, Stefano Riccardi, Silvia Stola, Omero Udovich, Anna Vitiello), awards the following prize:

Chicca Richelmy Award for the Best Short Film (6,500 euros, of which 2,500 euros offered by the Associazione Chicca Richelmy and 4,000 euros in post-production services for cinematographic film offered by Square Post - Production, Milan)

in collaboration with La Stampa - Torino Sette - Premio Achille Valdata

ALI DI CERA by Hedy Krissane (Italy, 2009, 7’)

For capably representing a tragic contemporary reality with simplicity.

CULT AWARD – TRUE STORIES IN CINEMA

The Jury of the Cult Award – True Stories in Cinema of the 27th Torino Film Festival, composed of: Sherin Salvetti (President, Italy), Alessandra Comazzi (Italy), Richard Dale (Great Britain), Gian Michele Mesina (Italy), Susanna Nicchiarelli (Italy), with the following motivation:

Two locations come to life in the selections: the first, the town of Sydney, Ohio is depicted with complicity and lightheartedness by the directors Bill and Turner Ross in the film 45365, to which the Jury awards a Special Mention; the second location, which captured the hearts of the jurors, is the island of Canvey, the true protagonist of OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL, which shows to what extent a place can influence the history of a generation, of a friendship and of a dream. The Jury awards the 2009 Cult Award – True Stories in Cinema to OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL and to its director Julien Temple.

Best international documentary: 20,000 euros (in collaboration with the satellite channel Cult, Fox Channels Italy) to:

OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL by Julien Temple (Great Britain, 2009, 106’)

Special mention to:

45365 by Bill and Turner Ross (USA, 2009, 90’)

CIPPUTI AWARD

The Torino Film Festival gives the 2009 Cipputi Award

Best Film on the Working World (5,000 euros) to:

BASECO BAKAL BOYS by Ralston Jover (Philippines, 2009, 93’)

PREMIO FIPRESCI

The Jury of the Fipresci Award (International Film Critics Prize) of the 27th Torino Film Festival, chaired by György Kárpáti (Hungary), and composed of Paola Casella (Italy), Adam Nayman (Canada), Le Long Dinh Nguyen (Norway), Dinko Tucakovic (Serbia), awards the following prize:

Best Film from Torino 27 to:

LA BOCCA DEL LUPO by Pietro Marcello (Italy, 2009, 67’)

The FIPRESCI Jury at the 27th Torino Festival of Young Cinema is proud to present its award to a film about life on the social and economic margins. The film is itself situated in a limnal space, between documentary and fiction, reportage and melodrama. Besides containing what is undoubtedly the great love story of the festival, this poetic film, which juxtaposes archival footage of Genoa with contemporary images, is also an invitation to consider the relationship between private and public history. Congratulations to director Pietro Marcello and his film "La Bocca del Lupo.”

INVITATION TO THE SCUOLA HOLDEN AWARD

The Jury of the Invitation to the Scuola Holden Award for the best screenplay from Torino 27, composed of the students of the two-year course in writing and story-telling, awards the following prize:

Invitation to the Scuola Holden Award [The winner will be invited to hold a three-day workshop at the Scuola Holden – 1,500 euros] to:

Calin Netzer for the film MEDALIA DE ONOARE (Romania-Germany, 2009, 105’)

”For the bitter representation of the tragedy of a good yet ridiculous man who lives out his sad twilight years in hopes of an impossible redemption.”

The Jury also gives a special mention to:

GET LOW by Aaron Schneider (USA, 2009, 100’),
VAN DIEMEN’S LAND by Jonathan auf der Heide (Australia, 2009, 104’),
LA NANA by Sebastián Silva (Chile, 2009, 94’)

“Achille Valdata” AUDIENCE AWARD

in collaboration with “La Stampa – TorinoSette”

The Jury of the “Achille Valdata” Audience Award, composed of 20 readers of TorinoSette (Valentina Castelli, Igor Catrano, Manuela Caudana, Cinzia Colonia, Enrico Di Pietro, Manuela Digrandi, Claudia Elia, Paola Giachello, Valentina Gonella, Giulia Gribaudi, Lisa Lardon, Paola Mariotto, Marco Monfredini, Raffaella Moretto, Giovanni Perucca, Elisa Ravarino, Stefano Riccardi, Silvia Stola, Omero Udovich, Anna Vitiello), award the following prize:

Best film from Torino 27 to:

MEDALIA DE ONOARE by Calin Netzer (Romania-Germany, 2009, 105’)

For having described the bewilderment of a generation in an ironical and touching way.

The jury also awards a Special Mention to the protagonist, the actor Victor Rebengiuc.

“AVANTI!” AWARD

The Jury of the Avanti! Award (Agenzia Valorizzazione Autori Nuovi Tutti Italiani), composed of Chiara Boffelli, Fiammetta Girola, Luca Malavasi, Antonella Sica and Andrea Zanoli, has examined the Italian documentaries and short films presented at the 27th Torino Film Festival; it selects for distribution by Lab 80 Film, in its network of film forums and film clubs, the following works:

CORDE by Marcello Sannino (Italy, 2009, 55’)

For having depicted the story of the young protagonist with great participation and delicacy.

FAMILLE by François Farellacci (Italy-France, 2009, 60’)

For the originality of its language as it analyzes the family structure, transforming the biography of the director into an emblem of the relationship between fathers and children.

MAGARI LE COSE CAMBIANO by Andrea Segre (Italy, 2009, 63’)

For its original outlook as it observes a difficult reality and finds in it a lesson of strength and optimism.

IL VANGELO SECONDO MARIA by Pietro Pasquetti (Italy, 2009, 48’)

For its original point of view as it studies a little-known world.

UCCA AWARD – TWENTY CITIES

The Jury of the UCCA Award – Twenty Cities, composed of Greta Barbolini, Mauro Brondi, Daniela Cappa, Domenico Simone selects for distribution in at least 20 cities, in the clubs and screening rooms affiliated with UCCA:

Best documentary

MAGARI LE COSE CAMBIANO by Andrea Segre (Italy, 2009, 63’)

”For having painted, with a praiseworthy capacity for synthesis and with involvement, a fresco of the urban and social changes underway in the metropolitan areas of our country. The viewpoints and the voices of the two protagonists, Neda and young Sara, depict simple human stories and extraordinary experiences in complex and problematic living conditions that are typical of the contemporary urban situation.”

The Jury also awards two special mentions – with the pledge to propose the screening of the works in the national network of UCCA clubs – to:

RADIO SINGER by Pietro Balla (Italy, 2009, 52’)

“For having brilliantly portrayed, through expert editing of library footage and new images, an important page of our history, of an era that is so far yet so near with its special social and cultural ferment.”

and to

CORDE by Marcello Sannino (Italy, 2009, 55’)

“A solid film project, translated into touching images with calibrated and efficient directing through the constant and careful shadowing of the protagonist, Ciro Pariso, an athlete and a human being, a small hero in the boxing ring of life.”

MAURIZIO COLLINO AWARD – A LOOK AT YOUTH

The Jury of the Maurizio Collino Award – A Look at Youth, composed of Alessandro Gaido, Anna Quagliato, Antonio Marzotto awards the following prize:

Best Film on youth-related issues (2,500 euros) to:

WELCOME by Philippe Lioret (France, 2009, 110’)

For its ability to make an invisible world and feelings visible and to transmit a message, without rhetoric, through the lucid representation of a private revolution.