Torino 2007

FIPRESCI Prize: "The Railroad" (South Korea)

The Torino Film Festival (TFF) celebrated its 25th anniversary. What began as a showcase for young directors — the competition is still open only for first, second or in rare cases third long feature films — developed with the opening of "Museo Nazionale del Cinema" in 1996 into a perfect blend of living film history and the making of film history.
   The festival centers around the Mole Antonelliana, Torino's beautiful landmark in which the impressive Film Museum and, across the street, the Massimo Multiplex Cinema are located. The constantly running festival bus takes you to and from the other main festival venue, the well equipped Ambrosio multiplex.
    TFF is an audience-orientated festival. This year, the public queued up for 15 films in the competition picked up from all over the world: for some of the latest Italian films such as Francesca Comencini's documentary In Fabbrica and Fabrizio Bentevoglio's Lascia perdere, Johnny!; for sidebars of Italian shorts and documentaries; as well as for prescreenings of films waiting for their Italian premiere, such as the closing film Eastern Promises by David Cronenberg.
    The close ties with the Film Museum meant not only complete retrospectives of Wim Wenders and of John Cassavetes as director, and a pick of the latter as an actor, but also as an highlight a sidebar called "L'amore degli inizi", Love in the Beginning.
    Nanni Moretti, first year director of the festival, played a very active part in making this a special occasion. Following the rare screenings of the first films of Francesco Rosi (The Challenge — La Sfida), Florestano Vancini (The Long Night of '43 — La lunga notte del '43), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (A Man for Burning — Un uomo de bruciare, together with Valentino Orsini), Tinto Brass (Who Works is Lost — Chi lavora è perduto) and Gianfranco de Bosio (The Terrorist — Il Terrorista), Nanni Moretti had long conversations with the directors on stage. The freshness of the films — all from the end of the 50s and the early 60s — became a surprise for the younger as well as the older in the audience.
    If Nanni Moretti, who has signed a two years contract as the director of TFF, will repeat a sidebar like this in 2008 is still not clear. Clear however is that TFF will keep its profile of taking a close look at films, no matter  when they are made. Special exhibitions at the Film Museum, this year devoted to Marco Ferreri and photographer Carole Bellaïche, completes the show. (Eva af Geijerstam)

Torino Film Festival, Italy, November 23 — December 1, 2007, www.torinofilmfest.org

The Prize of the International Critics went to The Railroad (Gyeong-ui-seon) by Park Heung-sik (South Korea), "for a beautifully told brief encounter between two lonely people in modern South Korea. Through their personal drama, the film suggests the possibility of an unification of different worlds". Details

Reports:

An Encounter with Park Heung-sik. Even though The Railroad (Gyeong-ui-seon) is Park Heung-sik's second feature, he regards it as his real film debut, his first personal work. Elise Domenach talked to the director and learnt about the many inspirations for this unique film.
Wim Wenders Retrospective. The legendary German director was present for a full retrospective including rare shorts and as the subject of documentaries. Josefina Sartora salutes the genius.
Four from Torino. Eva af Geijerstam picks out the best four films from the competition, paying particular emphasis to the importance of a well written screenplay as the backbone of every film.
The Panorama of Alina Marazzi. With the release of her new film Vogliamo anche le rose presented in the Italian Panorama section, Mariano Morace looks at other recent work by Alina Marazzi and picks out stories with female identity as an enduring theme.
An Opportunity Wasted. The Norwegian feature debut by Bard Breien is a dark comedy which Ossama A. Rezk argues had the potential to be much better if it wasn't for some fundamental errors in its narrative structure.

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