Spike Lee, Juliette Binoche, Terry Gilliam and Jacqueline Bisset will be among the honorees at this year’s Torino Film Festival, which runs Nov. 21–29 in the Piedmontese capital.
Marking its 43rd edition, the Northern Italian festival will gather a constellation of screen icons, paying additional tribute to Daniel Brühl, Claude Lelouch, Vincent Lindon, Vanessa Redgrave, Stefania Sandrelli, Sergio Castellitto and Aleksandr Sokurov. The lineup of special guests also includes Jason Biggs, Dominique Sanda, James Franco, Dolph Lundgren, Joanna Kulig and Hanna Schygulla, all presenting works both new and revered.
“We’re looking to foster conversations between generations,” says festival artistic director Giulio Base. “I want Torino to be a place to discover new voices, revisit the masters, and fall in love with cinema all over again — with no distractions, just the shared light of the screen.”
True to that spirit, Torino will put the big screen front and center, inviting honorees and guests to meet local audiences up close in the city’s theaters — not from the distance of a closed-off red carpet. Each invitee will present a work near and dear, all as part of a selection of 120 films, with nary a single small-screen project in sight.
“We’re probably the only major festival that doesn’t program series,” Base adds, with evident pride. “Not because I don’t love them; it’s just a different language. Every event happens in a theater because we want to preserve the festival’s pure cinematic identity.”
“Nuremberg“
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Opening with the A24-produced, David Freyne-directed “Eternity” and closing with James Vanderbilt’s “Nuremberg,” starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, this year’s festival will showcase 104 features and 16 shorts, including 23 world premieres and 11 international debuts.
“In these dark times, it felt like an act of courage to open with a story that reminds us that joy itself can be a form of resistance,” says Base of the spectral plane rom-com launching this year’s festivities. As for the closer — making its European premiere — Base calls it “one of the strongest ensemble films in years, with every actor delivering a truly Oscar-caliber performance.”
Between those bookends, Torino will present a robust slate of competitive and out-of-competition programing. Competitive sections for features, documentaries, and shorts each comprise 16 titles, while retrospectives, restorations, and regional premieres are grouped into three out-of-competition strands of 24 films.
Narrative features in the running for Torino’s top prize include Julia Kowalski’s “Her Will Be Done,” Annapurna Sriram’s “Fucktoys,” Amy Wang’s “Slanted,” Marianne Métivier’s “Elsewhere at Night,” and Gözde Kural’s “Cinema Jazireh” – a lineup notably rich in female perspectives.
“It’s meaningful that 10 of this year’s 16 competition films are directed by women,” says Base. “This isn’t the result of a quota, but a reflection of a reality finally emerging with strength – a vivid, evolving portrait of cinema seen through a female gaze. Contemporary storytelling is being enriched, expanded, and redefined by women’s voices.”
“Fucktoys”
Courtesy of SXSW
Out-of-competition programing will feature a mix of established auteurs, rising talent, and actor-turned-directors. Radu Jude (“Dracula”) and Alejandro Amenábar (“The Captive”) will showcase their latest works alongside emerging auteurs such as Alec Griffen Roth (“Billy Knight”) and Jason Biggs (“Untitled Home Invasion Romance”). Meanwhile, “Highest 2 Lowest” maestro Spike Lee will also bring his Cannes-acclaimed joint to Turin audiences — a rare theatrical outing for a film that otherwise went straight to streaming in Europe.
“We need to give our festival a twin soul,” says Base, now in his second year overseeing Torino. “Auteur cinema is at our core — that’s our DNA — but I wanted to add a second face: something more popular, more glamorous, more open to everyone. I want our city itself to come alive with cinema.”
