Archivi categoria: Film (English)

“IMMÉMORIAL, CHANTS DE LA GRANDE NUIT” BY BÉATRICE KORDON

Article by Lisa Cortopassi

Translation by Martina Bigi

Darkness, cold. A metallic melody and an off-screen voice introduce the spatial and thematic coordinates of Immémorial, Chants de la Grande Nuit. Legend has it that, in a primordial moment, the Gods tore the Night to reveal the “world of things.” This is how form, language, and day were created. Using this myth as a framework, Béatrice Kordon investigates on the “immemorial” time: a time that is both past and future, a time that leaves no trace and waves between death and birth, darkness and light.

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“IL CORPO”, BY VINCENZO ALFIERI

Article by Elisa Gnani

Translation by Silvia Matera

We are rarely forgiving with Italian fiction filmmaking. We tend to consider it like a box full of unassuming or mediocre products, but films like Il corpo prove us wrong.

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“TERRA INCOGNITA” BY ENRICO MASI

Article by Francesca Strangis

Translation by Giorgia Mazzù

Asleep on the grass, a man and a woman are awakened by the sound of screeching metallic noises. The man climbs a slight hill, driven by curiosity to see what lies beyond. On the other side, the world of technology: towering electric pylons and industrial plants dominate the view. The opening sequence of Terra Incognita (‘Unknown Land’) serves as a metaphor for the film itself, which explores the themes of energy supply and humanity’s survival on Earth through two opposing perspectives.

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“THE SUMMER BOOK” BY CHARLIE MCDOWELL

Article by Brigitta Mariuzzo

Translation by Martina Perrero

Grief is an island in the middle of the sea, where the summers of childhood have been embedded. A suspended place, waiting for a storm that is slow to break and of the arrival of those who have long since failed to return.

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“HIGHER THAN ACIDIC CLOUDS” BY ALI ASGARI

Article by Alessandro Pomati

Translation by Laura Cattani

In Tehran a search is taking place inside a big house: men are rifling through drawers and closets, boxes of personal belongings are being taken away. Nothing we have not already seen in the context of the Iranian dictatorship. But there is one jarring detail: the owner of the searched house is sitting petrified on the couch, while his place would be elsewhere, in a director’s chair, for example, directing that short, chilling sequence shot capturing the search. That is Ali Asgari, impatiently waiting for the authorities to do their work in his apartment-atelier and leave him alone, at least for the time being.

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“EIGHT POSTCARDS FROM UTOPIA” BY RADU JUDE E CHRISTIAN FERENCZ-FLATZ

Article by Romeo Gjokaj

Translation by Martina Marino

Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz’s latest work is deeply rooted in the socio-political context of post-revolution Romania, narrating the last thirty years of the country’s history through the commercials that accompanied its people towards democracy. It is an experimental found-footage documentary, divided into eight chapters displaying dozens of commercials played back-to-back: an overwhelming and ever-changing flow of ideals, dreams and hopes. Thus, we find ourselves reliving a fragment of the utopia promised by the end of socialism, yet an utopia that, however, is jarring and full of contradictions.

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“DUINO”, BY JUAN PABLO DI PACE AND ANDRÉS  PEPE ESTRADA

Article by Alessandra Sottini.

Translation by Irene Pezzini.

(Sexual) identity and love. When these planes of emotional and subjective experience intertwine with each other during adolescence, inevitably everything becomes amplified and confused. And when the awareness that comes with maturity, you either come to terms with yourself or you remain in a limbo.

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“CORRESPONSAL”, BY EMILIANO SERRA

Article by Alessandro Pomati.

Translation by Alessandra Rapone.

An informer for the armed wing of the Argentine dictatorship in 1978, called Ulrich, works with images: photographic images or those created by amateur film cameras. This may be a didactic detail, since the way the director Emiliano Serra (in his first fiction feature film) ‘uses’ his main character, in particular the way he captures and defines him in the writing, makes him, in turn, a ‘camera’: the narrative proceeds only when he is present, and the viewer sees and hears only what Ulrich sees and hears. Furthermore, the impassivity of the protagonist’s face (played by Gabriel Rosas) and the monochord setting of his voice, able to read both a confidential report and an article about the upcoming football World Cup with the same intonation, emphasize the idea of a coldness that only a machine or an inanimate object could have. The eyes, not surprisingly, are the only expressive feature.

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“THE SIN” BY HAN DONG-SEOK

Article by Emidio Sciamanna

Translation by Francesca Borgheresi

Lurking in the shadows of a social pessimism and often embodied by the human values of science and justice, the search for rationality takes the ruthless and tragic shape of a great evil, which is a demon that feeds itself with collective discrimination and mutual hate. The second full-length film by Han Dong-seok, The Sin, presented in the category “Crazies” of the 41st edition of Torino Film Festival, suggests a crazy concept of the original sin, where fear and the obsessive desire of revenge insinuate in the mechanic physicality of multiple moving bodies. 

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“EX-HUSBANDS” BY NOAH PRITZKER

Article by Pietro Torchia

Translation by Alessia Licari

In this edition of the Turin Film Festival, characterized by a surreal, sci-fi and horror atmosphere and a need to escape reality, “Ex-Husbands” – presented out of competition – is a film that instead focuses on the real world.

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“NUCLEAR NOW” by OLIVER STONE

Article by Angela Borraccio

Translated by Fabio Castagno

The last important guest of the 41st edition of Torino Film Festival is the American director Oliver Stone, who will be awarded with Premio Stella della Mole. He will hold a masterclass and present his latest documentary Nuclear Now, which leads the audience to reflect about the contradictions and paradoxes of humankind in his typically blunt and direct style. The film takes its inspiration from the arguments of the book A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow by Joshua S. Goldstein, a leading expert on international relations, war and society, energy and climate change. The authors’ obvious intentions are to explain that nuclear energy can be a solution to climate change and the challenges putting a strain on human survival on the planet.

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“RICARDO ET LA PEINTURE” BY BARBET SCHROEDER

Article by Emidio Sciamanna

Translation by Chiara Rotondo

An elderly painter climbs the steep cliff face of Brittany’s coastline, wearing worn-out clothes and holding his palette, easel and brushes in hand. Upon reaching a secluded grotto, he is free to express his imagination against the stunning coastal backdrop. This is the opening scene of Barbet Schroeder’s latest documentary, Ricardo et la peinture (“Ricardo and painting”), which premiered Out of Competition at the 41st Turin Film Festival.

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“SMILING GEORGIA” BY LUKA BERADZE

Article by Nicolò Pilon

Translation by Martina Agostino

During the elections in 2012 in Georgia, the Party’s candidate Mikheil Saak’ashvili of “United National Movement” promises free dental visits to all citizens over the age of 50. He does not limit himself to promises, in fact he hires teams of dentists tasked with restoring the smiles of his potential voters. At the end of the two-month campaign, however, Mikheil will lose the election, leaving citizens with half surgery done, but with no teeth. Eight years later, director Luka Beradze decides to go to one of the  regions most affected by this electoral cataclysm, where he will find the Innominatovillage, in the municipality of Chiaturi.

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“CAMBIO CAMBIO” BY LAUTARO GARCÍA CANDELA

Article by Elena Bernardi

Translation by Camilla Lippi

In Cambio Cambio (“Change Change”), one of the movies presented out of competition in the “Nuovi Sguardi Argentini” (“New Argentinian Perspectives”) section at the 41st Torino Film Festival, Lautaro García Candela paints a picture of Generation Z in a post-pandemic Argentina, somewhere between a thriller and a love story.

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“ROMA BLUES” BY GIANLUCA MANZETTI

Article by Sara Longo


Translation by Lara Martelozzo

In the oneiric world of Al (Francesco Gheghi), the single most important thing is to make his bed every morning. This is because accomplishing the first task of the day will motivate him to achieve subsequent goals. Inspired by what Admiral McRaven said in his famous speech, Al adds that it is in a properly tucked-in bed that good dreams are born. Too bad there are no blankets to tuck into in the hot, suffocating Rome where he lives.

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 “ANULLOJE LIGJIN” BY FABRIZIO BELLOMO

Article by Asia Lupo

Translation by Rebecca Lorusso

The sea, a mound of earth and some buildings are the opening images of Anulloje Ligjin, a documentary that talks about the mysterious reality of a country which has been isolated from the rest of the European continent for 40 years. Albania, in this film, is shown in all its desolation and inconsistencies, but also in its profound creative energy and resistance.

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“BIRTH” BY YOO JI-YOUNG

Article by Davide Gravina

Translation by Sebastiano Liso

After the credits of Birth, which was screened in competition at the 41st Torino Film Festival, the clatter of computer keys cannot halt. Jay (Han Hae-in) is a promising young, talented writer, undoubtedly ambitious, not fearful at all and encouraged by the career path she decided to pursue. She cannot and does not know how to do anything else. Jay’s partner Geonwoo (Lee Han-ju) is an English teacher at a private institute who seems content to live in his girlfriend’s shadow, helping her as best he can and giving up his own individual happiness. An uneven love story, only seemingly stable, but, in fact, deeply unhealthy. Their balance is challenged when she discovers she is pregnant, despite the continued use of contraceptives.

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“L’ÎLE” BY DAMIEN MANIVEL

Article by Luca Giardino

Translation by Eleonora Torrisi

Rosa’s (Rosa Berder) last night before leaving for Montréal is an unforgettable party. 
The girl must leave all her friends and move to Canada, perhaps to become a great dancer. But goodbyes are never easy and the night offers Rosa a chance to stop time to savor every sip of beer, every drag of a cigarette, and the warmth of the last day of summer. The meeting place is a large boulder in the middle of a beach, affectionately known as “the island”; here her friends set up a sort of farewell ritual, consisting of alcoholic challenges, seaweed battles and bathing in the sea. Rosa lives her last evening as if it were truly the last of her life without ever drowning in memories, but rather trying to recreate new ones that can last forever.

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“LUX SANTA” BY MATTEO RUSSO

Article by Valentina Testa

Translation by Chiara Rotondo

It is a customary practice in Crotone for young men to build a wooden pyramid to set fire in honour of St. Lucy on December 13th. Cooperation becomes a prerequisite for winning the friendly and traditional competition that takes place every year among the town districts to see who can build the highest and most impressive fire. “We must ensure that our Jesus Fund gets published in newspapers, and nobody else.” Even if the press won’t pay attention to them, the story of the Jesus Fund community will be told in Lux Santa (“Holy light”). This film, directed by Matteo Russo and presented as part of the 41st Turin Film Festival’s Italian documentary competition, sheds light on their experiences.

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“MANDOOB – NIGHT COURIER” BY ALI KALTHAMI

Article by Elena Bernardi

Translation by Fabio Castagno

From the beginning,  the director Ali Kalthami explains to the audience the double connotation of the Arabic word “Mandoob”, which means “courier” but also “a person pitied for his misery and tragic end”. Mandoob – Night Courier – part of the feature film competition of the 41st edition of Torino Film Festiva – turns the same double meaning of the word into an ambiguous thriller connotated by a strong sense of humor, which shows the power of desperation in the protagonist’s misadventures.

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