A selection consisting of 133 films, including 64 feature films, 52 world premieres and 16 international premieres, a jury populated entirely by women and a specific focus on emerging talent (with 29 debut works jostling among the feature films): these are the defining features of the 38^th Torino Film Festival, the first to be directed by Stefano Francia di Celle and also the first (and hopefully the last) to unfold entirely online between 20 and 28 November, courtesy of Covid, via the online streaming platform MyMovies.

Of the 12 films battling it out in the main Torino 38 competition (of which 11 are debut works and 1 a second effort), 6 are directed by women and 6 by men in support of the international “50/50 by 2020” policy launched by the Toronto Film Festival. Among these titles we find the Romanian LGBTQ+ drama Poppy Field [+lire aussi :
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interview : Eugen Jebeleanu
fiche film] by Eugen Jebeleanu, the Austrian-Belgian work Why Not You [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Evi Romen, Schoolgirls [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pilar Palomero
fiche film] by Spanish director Pilar Palomero and Wildfire [+lire aussi :
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interview : Cathy Brady
fiche film] by Cathy Brady (UK/Ireland). Representing Italy, meanwhile, there’s Regina [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alessandro Grande
fiche film] by Alessandro Grande, which tells the story of a father and his daughter devastated by a tragic event in an unusual rendering of Calabria, starring Francesco Montanari and Ginevra Francesconi. The competition jury, which doesn’t have a president, is entirely female and consists of Syrian director Waad Al-Kateab, her British colleague Martha Fiennes, Japanese actress Jun Ichikawa, Italian animation director Martina Scarpelli and Iranian writer Homayra Sellier.

The Out of Competition line-up gathers together the most interesting approaches in film production this year, featuring the Italian titles Il buco in testa [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Antonio Capuano and Caliber 9 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Tony D'Angelo, the documentary about Billie Holiday Billie [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by James Erskine (UK), which was selected in collaboration with the SeeYouSound Festival, the French work Une dernière fois by Olympe de G., in collaboration with the Fish&Chips Festival, and The Salt in Our Waters [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which was co-produced by France with the support of TorinoFilmLab and which marks the debut of Bengalese director Rezwan Shahriar Sumit. There’s also the Italian-Chilean offering Vera de verdad [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Beniamino Catena, a paradoxical tale straddling sci-fi and emotional realism, as well as Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful [+lire aussi :
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interview : Gero von Boehm
fiche film], a doc by Gero von Boehm about the great photographer.

Distinguishing themselves among the documentaries, we find My America by Barbara Cupisti, conveying the views and voices of ordinary Americans who are anxious to preserve a level of moral integrity and uphold the ideals of the US Constitution, Due scatole dimenticate - Viaggio in Vietnam by Cecilia Mangini and Paolo Pisanelli, which is based upon a huge, unpublished work of photo reportage, and Nuovo Cinema Paralitico by Davide Ferrario, offering up little snapshots of Italy with each segment minutes long.

New additions to this year’s event include the Rol’s Rooms section which is dedicated to genre film, “a place of mystery and the unknown”, and which is named after the sensitive Turin-born painter Gustavo Adolfo Rol. European titles include the Danish work Breeder [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Jens Dahl, the Spanish series Antidisturbios by Rodrigo Sorogoyen (read our review) and the Hungarian title The Philosophy of Horror - A Symphony of Film Theory by Péter Lichter and Bori Máté. On offer within the TFFdoc section, meanwhile, are works such as Zaho Zay [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Maéva Ranaïvojaona and Georg Tiller (Austria/France/Madagascar) and Serbia’s In Praise of Love [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Tamara Drakuli.

In terms of masterclasses, directors Aleksandr Sokurov and Mohsen Makhmalbaf will be among those sharing their expertise, while the new Stella della Mole Award, rewarding artistic innovation, will go to actress Isabella Rossellini.

Last but not least, the TFL Meeting Event - the international co-production forum organised by TorinoFilmLab - will adopt a wholly digital form this year, unfolding between 16 - 20 November and uniting upwards of 60 projects, spanning films and TV series, all in search of producers, co-producers, sales agents or other partners.