Article by Sirio Alessio Giuliani
Translated by Simona Sucato
Four years after The Monster, Bertino writes and directs a ghost story intertwined with the family drama, customizing it with its usual dry and explicit style. The movie was presented as a world premier at the Tribeca Film Festival 2020 and is out of competition in the section Le stanze di Rol at the 38th Torino Film Festival.
Continua la lettura di “THE DARK AND THE WICKED” By BRYAN BERTINOArticle by Arianna Vietina
Translated by Simona Assale
The Spanish tv series Antidisturbios represents those urban conflicts that we have witnessed in this 2020, from the riots of the Black Lives Matters movement, to the months of protest in Byelorussia, to the demonstrations in Poland. All of these were provoked by different reasons, but all defined by strong oppositions and incommunicability between protesters and law enforcements. A distance that remains impossible to fill, even if there seems to be no more air or space between these men and women, even if they merge one into another in agitated movements.
Continua la lettura di “ANTIDISTURBIOS” BY RODRIGO SOROGOYENAricle by Alice Ferro
Translated by Sofia Barbera
“Pino” is the title of the documentary made by Walter Fasano for the historical acquisition of one of the most significant works by Pino Pascali, by the Museum of contemporary art dedicated to the artist in Polignano a Mare, where he was born. A title that manages to convey the vibrating and overflowing soul of an artist who has deeply marked italian post-war art. This particular piece “Cinque bachi da setola e un bozzolo” (1968) finally returns “home” from Rome in 2018 in a story told through photographs that takes inspiration from “La Jetée” by Christ Marker.
Continua la lettura di “PINO” BY WALTER FASANOArticle by Niccolò Buttigliero
Translated by Giulia Neirone
Black screen, wind. Then, human voices together with neighs. In a dusty and austere racecourse, a horse race is interrupted at its acme, through a freeze-frame. Who is the winner, is not for us to know.
At this moment U slavu ljubavi (In Praise of Love) re-starts for the first time. Black screen again, nature sounds again: everything is covered by chirps and bellows. Now, humanity is not even considered on the sound level. From untouched nature to animals. Long static shots, mesmerized by horse bottoms. It seems that Drakulić’s point of view is not special, it is just one of the many possible perspectives. The world flows spontaneously, through every breath. Doesn’t matter if anthropomorphic subjects leave the screen. It is not about décadrages, or the subversion of some rules. It is rather about not identifying ourselves with a hierarchical organization of the audiovisual material. Everything is on the same level, and Drakulić succeeds in giving back the undecidability of one single point of view..
Continua la lettura di U SLAVU LJUBAVI (IN PRAISE OF LOVE), BY TAMARA DRAKULIĆArticle by Francesco Dubini
Translated by Carmen Tucci
A los migrantes, en sus viajes inciertos y llena de promesas, a las famillas de los desaparecidos.
This dedication closes the end credits of a movie that doesn’t end for real, but it continues to vibrate in the powerful echo of reality that tells. Immigrants, their uncertain journeys with a lot of promises, families of missing people : the movie is about these facts following Magdalena’s journey, a mother who’s looking for his son, who left for the United States in search of safety and disappeared for months. Born as a short film in 2012, the movie grows with its director with the bad situation that tells, about violence that tears mexican society apart and it opens a wound that doesn’t stop bleeding. Fernanda Valadez chooses to analyze that blood through the measure of intimacy : Sin señas particulares denounces the pain of a country through the pain of a mother.
Continua la lettura di “SIN SEÑAS PARTICULARES” BY FERNANDA VALADESArticle by Luca Giardino
Translated by Carmen Tucci
A slow overview opens onto the mountain landscape of Appalachia; in the distance a feeble explosion destabilizes for a few seconds the peace of that vision of paradise. Everything is quiet. This is how The Evening Hour starts, the new feature film produced by Braden King who, after nine years from Here (2011), comes back adapting for the big screen the Carter Sickel’s novel of the same name. In his new movie, King focuses on the realistic life of American suburb, discouraging the classical stylistic noir narrative elements and instilling a deep reflection about the fate of an entire generation: young people feel disillusioned about a non-existent future, forced to suffer the pressure of a world that doesn’t give escape apart from becoming addicted to drugs and violence.
Continua la lettura di “THE EVENING HOUR” BY BRADEN KINGArticle by Laura Anania
Translated by Francesca Cozzitorito
Pilar Palomero’s first feature film has two strong points: realism and ease. This combination characterises both the storyline and the overall style, making Las Niñas an emotional and nostalgic film. The protagonist is Celia, an eleven-year-old girl who lives with her young mother in Zaragoza in the early 90s. Her friendship with Brisa, the new girl in town, who rejects religion as a totalising concept, shows Celia a different understanding of reality.
Continua la lettura di “LAS NIÑAS” BY PILAR PALOMEROArticle by Valentina Velardi
Translated by Francesca Cozzitorto
Rudro (Titas Zia), a young artist in search of inspiration, decides to leave the chaotic life of Dhaka and embark on a journey to a remote mangrove island in the Bangal Delta. At first, he is welcomed by the local community, a small group of families who make their living fishing, but Rudro soon finds himself misunderstood and then ostracized by the villagers. Led by the Chairman (Fazlur Rahman Babu), imam and local leader, they first stare suspiciously and then with open disapproval at his installations and habits.
Continua la lettura di “THE SALT IN OUR WATERS” by REZWAN SHAHRIAR SUMITArticle by Sirio Alessio Giuliani
Translated by Simona Sucato
“The world goes on but you feel a little further behind”
Patrizia pronounces this sentence looking towards the camera. The sounds of the nearby street are the background to her words. The sun enlights her face and from her eyes transpires the typical melancholia of those who have suffered much, but also the hope of who doesn’t want to surrender. In this photo we can summarize the meaning of San Donato Beach, the new Fabio Donatini’s feature film, in competition at the 38° Torino Film Festival in the section TFFDOC/ Italiana.
Continua la lettura di “SAN DONATO BEACH” BY FABIO DONATINIArticle by Marco Ghironi
Translated by Aurora Sciarrone
The town of Mostar, its divers and a bridge really do split the generations of a community that is trying to forget and move on from war. Competing in the Italiana.doc’s section, Daniele Babbo makes his directorial debut with I Tuffatori – The Divers, quietly moving in the heart of Bosnia, along with the voices and memories of Igor, Denis, Miro, Edy and Goran. Faces and bodies that bewitch tourists with their leaps into the void, and at the same time hide the fear of an unknown future.
Article by: Alessandro Pomati
Translated by: Selene Novaro Mascarello
Ila, Ija: the names of the protagonists of two of director Kantemir Balagov’s films are separated only by one letter. Two women divided by fifty years of history and yet somehow connected: on the one hand, Ila, the protagonist of Tesnota, a young Jewish woman who acts like a tomboy and works as a mechanic; on the other hand, Ija, or Dylda (“beanpole”), as everyone calls her, a slender nurse who suffers from sudden epileptic seizures which completely isolate her from the real world. Two women whose lives are similarly marked by diversity, in spite of their living during two different periods of the history of Russia: for Ila, the start of the war between Russia and Chechnya; as for Ija, winter 1945 in Leningrad. On the one hand, the crumbling of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, its origins. And, at the two opposite ends of the spectrum, two women grappling with motherhood.
Continua la lettura di “DYLDA” BY KANTEMIR BALAGOVArticle by: Giacomo Bona
Translated by: Ilaria Roma
A white, white day is about a day which is as white as snow and Icelandic fog, as black as a film noir, and as red as blood. The death of Ingimundur’s wife is the trigger point for a series of events. Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a cop who lives and works in a small village in Iceland, far away from everything and everyone. He hides his pain but at the same time he tries to manage and overcome it.
Article by: Giulia Leo
Translated by: Giorgia Bellini
The end of the century mentioned in the title of Lucio Castro’s work is an uncertain end, a feeling of uncertainty that manages to craft a simple and delicate story about the encounter of two souls that discover each other all over again.
It is a warm, quiet Spanish night, Ocho (Juan Barberini) is spending his vacation in Barcelona, exploring and taking pictures. When he gets back to his apartment, he sees Javi (Ramon Pujol) from the balcony and invites him upstairs, where the physical attraction between the two takes over. A sudden spark of passion, that seems to be meaningless. But Castro revolves things around, he brings us back in time and makes us realise that the fling between the two men is actually the story of a universal love, not bound to any space or time.
Continua la lettura di “FIN DE SIGLO” BY LUCIO CASTROArticle by: Silvia Gentile
Translated by: Lucrezia Villa
Director Sabrina Sarabi’s first feature film, in competition at Torino Film Festival, on the surface seems to belong to the traditional coming-of-age films.
David (Louis Hofmann) is a young pianist, who studies at a prestigious music academy tutored by cold and strict Professor Matussek (Ursina Lardi). In order to achieve his dream and be accepted into The Juilliard School, he spends up to eight hours a day practicing without rest. When he meets Walter (Johannes Nussbaum) and Marie (Liv Lisa Fries), a couple with whom he soon after forms an uncommon friendship, his already fragile mental state gets affected. After stealing his friend’s girlfriend, David gets romantically involved with Marie, however, he devotes himself to piano only, and his lack of commitment to their love story causes it to come to an end abruptly.
Continua la lettura di “PRÉLUDE” BY SABRINA SARABIArticle by: Roberto Guida
Translated by: Giorgia Bellini
Remember, my dear Sancho, who has more needs to do more.
I totally agree. I just wish Quijote could explain that to hoyo’s “guests”.
But Goreng (Ivan Massagué) knows it well, in fact he chose to take Cervantes’ book with him. He shares the Tower’s 48th floor room with the old Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), but every month they wake up on a different floor. Apparently, only who is on the highest floor have access to food, while people on the lower floors have to feed on the leftovers, and the poor devils at the bottom are forced to cannibalism in order to survive – or, even worse, to commit suicide due to the lack of food. Still, the number of these levels remains unknown.
Continua la lettura di “EL HOYO – THE PLATFORM” BY GALDER GAZTELU-URRUTIAArticle by: Fabrizio Spagna
Translated by: Cecilia Malanima
Ohong Village, director’s debut film, is the intimate portrayal of the everyday life of a Taiwanese family. Due to its detailed development, understated technique, hasty images and story editing, it seems to be more of a documentary than a feature movie.
It talks about a highly skilled and extremely clever boy who has just got back home to Taiwan, to his family and his longlife friend. It talks about lies, about (weak) symbols, and about incredibly powerful and emotional sounds.
Continua la lettura di “OHONG VILLAGE” BY LUKE LUNGYIN LIMArticle by: Silvia Gentile
Translated by: Chiara Franceskin
Not only as the protagonist in the film Raf (Harry Cepka), Grace Glowicki also participates in Torino Film Festival as a director with her first feature film, Tito.
Tito (interpreted by Grace Glowicki herself) is a misfit, an outcast who, after having suffered violence, lives isolated in his house with sparing furniture. He is haunted by scary sounds and imaginary monsters that seem to be in ambush wherever he is. Tito is also tormented by a physical illness that prevents him even from eating. Suddenly a “friendly neighbour” (Ben Petrie) – as he is presented in the opening credits – appears in his house. He talks incessantly, and Tito feeds him, makes him take drugs, and, for a while, he seems to get him out of his solitude and fear, but actually he will reveal himself as another of his executioners.
Article by: Laura k. Barbella
Translated by: Gabriele Cepollina
So bold and natural is the mankind’s urge to explore new worlds. It is what features the process of evolution, that depends on the right combination of curiosity, need and audacity: from the first monkey that descended of its tree, up to the first man who walked on the surface of the moon. Nonetheless, if you really want to adventure the unexplored, it is not necessary to be pushed, changing your own point of view is just enough.
Continua la lettura di “SPACE DOGS” BY ELSA KREMSER AND LEVIN PETERArticle by: Sirio Alessio Giuliani
Translated by: Anna Benedetto
Debut film of two Italian directors, Spinotti and De Amicis, Now is Everything was made thanks to an Italian-American indie production, starring the talented Anthony Hopkins, Madeline Brewer and Camille Rowe. It is a rather complex film with various experimental elements in it, paving the way for two possible interpretations.
Continua la lettura di “NOW IS EVERYTHING” BY RICCARDO SPINOTTI AND VALENTINA DE AMICISArticle by: Noemi Castelvetro
Translated by: Viola Locci
The young director Harry Cepka takes part to the TFF37 with his debut feature film. He explores the power dynamics in interpersonal relationships. “It took me five years of tears, sweat and efforts to make this film.” says Cepka to introduce his work, which is the result of the collaboration with the actress Grace Glowicki (of which he produces Tito in 2019) who interprets Raf.
Continua la lettura di “RAF” BY HARRY CEPKA
