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TURIN 2019

Genre cinema to take centre stage at the 37th Turin Film Festival

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- From 22 to 30 November, 149 feature films will be screened in Turin, with a tribute to Teona Strugar Mitevska and a retrospective of classic horror films also on the agenda

Genre cinema to take centre stage at the 37th Turin Film Festival
The Platform by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Jojo Rabbit [+see also:
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by Taika Waititi, the stinging satire on Nazism led by a child who has Adolf Hitler as an imaginary friend, is set to open the 37th Turin Film Festival, an event unspooling between 22 and 30 November, with a focus on genre film and works of horror in particular. On offer is a rich programme consisting of 149 feature films, of which 44 are first or second works, 45 are world premieres, 28 international premieres and 64 Italian premieres, with titles hailing from all over the world and a vast selection from Europe.

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Standing out among the 15 films in the Turin 37 Competition dedicated to first, second and third works – to be weighed up by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini - are Le Choc du futur [+see also:
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, the first feature film by Marc Collin (co-founder of French covers band Nouvelle Vague), set in the world of Paris electro music in 1978; the dystopic Spanish work The Platform [+see also:
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interview: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
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by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia; the German coming-of-age film set in musical surrounds Prélude [+see also:
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, by Sabrina Sarabi, and; Welsh actor Tom Cullen’s directorial debut Pink Wall [+see also:
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, which tells a couple’s story through the portrayal of six particular moments in their relationship. There’s also Hlynur Pálmason’s second work, A White, White Day [+see also:
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interview: Hlynur Pálmason
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; the American production Now Is Everything, which is directed by Italy’s Riccardo Spinotti and Valentina De Amicis, falling somewhere between the works of Lynch and Malick and starring Ray Nicholson (son of Jack), and; the Italian film Il grande passo [+see also:
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by Antonio Padovan, with Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi playing the parts of two brothers, a film which, according to Turin Film Festival director Emanuela Martini, brings to mind the locations and melancholy associated with Carlo Mazzacurati’s work.

Italian works featuring amongst the 25 titles in the Festa Mobile section include the new film by Gianni Di Gregorio, Lontano lontano [+see also:
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, which focuses on three retired men who dream of escaping to an exotic country and sees Ennio Fantastichini take up his final role; the docufilm on Frida Kahlo Frida viva la vida [+see also:
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, by Giovanni Troilo, narrated by Asia Argento; medium-length film Colpiti al cuore by Alessandro Bignami, a journey through Italian cinema in the years of the Piazza Fontana bombing; If Only [+see also:
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by Ginevra Elkann, Mi chiamo Altan e faccio vignette by Stefano Consiglio, Nour [+see also:
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by Maurizio Zaccaro, which has the Lampedusa doctor Pietro Bartolo as its protagonist (an individual who found fame in Fire At Sea [+see also:
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interview: Gianfranco Rosi
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), played here by Sergio Castellitto, and the Italian-Romanian title Simple Women [+see also:
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by Chiara Malta, starring Jasmine Trinca. Also of note are Beats [+see also:
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by Brian Welsh, The Whistlers [+see also:
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interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
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by Corneliu Porumboiu, While At War [+see also:
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interview: Alejandro Amenábar
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by Alejandro Amenábar, and Abel Ferrara’s last two films, Tommaso [+see also:
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interview: Abel Ferrara
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and The Projectionist.

In the After Hours line-up, amongst the 17 films on offer, which range from comedies to horror and sci-fi, we find Letto n. 6 [+see also:
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, directed by Milena Cocozza and produced by the Manetti Bros., the surreal work Paradise [+see also:
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interview: Davide Del Degan
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by Davide Del Degan, the crime movie An Uncertain Border [+see also:
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by Isabella Sandri, not to mention The Lodge [+see also:
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by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, The Barefoot Emperor [+see also:
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interview: Jessica Woodworth
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by Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens, and the Austrian work by Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska The Children of the Dead [+see also:
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interview: Kelly Copper and Pavol Liška
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, a silent horror film set in the Tyrol and featuring zombie Nazis and Jews.

Aside from the documentary section (TFFdoc) - where humankind’s relationship with the world around it is a key, stand-out theme - and the line-up for movies of a more experimental kind (Onde), the TorinoFilmLab film selection will also be making a return, with 7 titles that have been produced over the past year by the Turin-based feature film and TV series development laboratory.

The Guest Director of this year’s edition is Carlo Verdone, who will present five films close to his heart, amongst which Divorce Italian Style by Pietro Germi and Being There by Hal Ashby. Last but not least, we’ll see tribute paid to Teona Strugar Mitevska (God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya [+see also:
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interview: Labina Mitevska
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
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]
), who is, in the words of Martini “one of the most interesting young directors working in European cinema today”, as well as the retrospective intitled “Si può fare! Classic horror, 1919-1969” consisting of 35 titles. And it is the great icon of this very genre, British actress Barbara Steele, who will be the recipient of this year’s Turin Grand Prize.

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(Translated from Italian)

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