London -- In a country that loves a movie with political content, Oliver Stone's "W." is sure to ignite healthy debate when today's Italian premiere kicks off the nine-day Turin Film Festival.
The timing certainly couldn't be better, coming little more than two weeks after a U.S. presidential election that still has Europe buzzing.
But Barack Obama's election to the White House was arguably less surprising -- and certainly less controversial -- than this year's lineup, which is completely void of Italian films.
Arguably the country's third most prominent film festival, after Venice and Rome, the Northern Italian film jamboree will come to a close with "The Edge of Love," directed by John Maybury.
Under the watchful eye of filmmaker Nanni Moretti, now in his second year as artistic director, the festival has no Italian films because, according to Moretti, there simply weren't any titles that were up to snuff.
The timing certainly couldn't be better, coming little more than two weeks after a U.S. presidential election that still has Europe buzzing.
But Barack Obama's election to the White House was arguably less surprising -- and certainly less controversial -- than this year's lineup, which is completely void of Italian films.
Arguably the country's third most prominent film festival, after Venice and Rome, the Northern Italian film jamboree will come to a close with "The Edge of Love," directed by John Maybury.
Under the watchful eye of filmmaker Nanni Moretti, now in his second year as artistic director, the festival has no Italian films because, according to Moretti, there simply weren't any titles that were up to snuff.
- 11/20/2008
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rome -- The 26th Turin Film Festival on Friday released a lineup completely void of Italian films but heavy on U.S. and European productions.
Second-year artistic director Nanni Moretti -- who revealed the lineup to a packed house at the Nuovo Sacher, the Rome cinema he owns -- did his best to avoid comparisons to the just-completed Rome International Film Festival, but the Italian press is sure to highlight the differences.
The Rome event was criticized for a lineup that in many ways was a photo negative of the program Moretti released Friday, with six Italian films featured and just one from the U.S.
Moretti said that the U.S. writers' strike, which had an impact on the lineups in Venice, Rome and elsewhere, also played a role in shaping Turin's lineup. Though three of the 15 films in the lineup have American DNA, all are low-budget affairs: Azazel Jacobs' "Momma's Man,...
Second-year artistic director Nanni Moretti -- who revealed the lineup to a packed house at the Nuovo Sacher, the Rome cinema he owns -- did his best to avoid comparisons to the just-completed Rome International Film Festival, but the Italian press is sure to highlight the differences.
The Rome event was criticized for a lineup that in many ways was a photo negative of the program Moretti released Friday, with six Italian films featured and just one from the U.S.
Moretti said that the U.S. writers' strike, which had an impact on the lineups in Venice, Rome and elsewhere, also played a role in shaping Turin's lineup. Though three of the 15 films in the lineup have American DNA, all are low-budget affairs: Azazel Jacobs' "Momma's Man,...
- 11/7/2008
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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