Article by: Fabio Olivetti and Davide Bertolino
Translation by: Giulia Miolo
Besides the screenings of previews and first works, the Turin Film Festival also celebrates the classics of cinematographic history. The film exhibition has always had a special consideration for the international review; this year it has decided to pay homage to the German cinematography by promoting three of its most relevant films.
After years of absence, Volker Schlöndorff, leading exponent of the New German Cinema, makes his comeback in Italian cinemas with ‘Diplomacy- A night to save Paris’, which is an adaptation of the play by CyrilGely. The German director chooses again the Second World War’s theme after ‘La mer à l’aube’, bringing to the big screen an episode that really happened.
Volker Schlöndorff and Emanuela Martini during the presentation of ‘Diplomacy- A night to save Paris’ (Photo by Bianca Brocchieri).
The action takes place over the night between 24 and 25 August 1944, when the Allies entered in Paris finally ending the war. Although the Nazis were aware of their imminent defeat, the Führer did not surrender and ordered at General Dietrich von Choltitz (played masterfully by Niels Arestrup) to burn Paris. However, with monuments and bridges mined and ready to explode, the order of Hitler, as we know, has never been executed. Even though the ending is obvious, Schlöndorff is able to create a captivating and pressing thriller thanks to the excellent interpretation of Niels Arestrup and André Dussollieras the Swedish console Raoul Nordling, and to the high skills of the director. The Maaurice Hôtel is the stage in which the duel between two star performers takes place: on one side there is Nordling, defender of humanity and symbol of a pacifist moral; on the other side, there is commander von Choltitz, faithful to the Nazi cause and obedient to each command given by his superiors. Proposing a reality as that of World War II, by now engraved on the collective memory, is the pretext that allows Schlöndorff to investigate the nature of the human soul, divided between political duty and a silent reminder of brotherhood. This particular episode has already been brought to the big screen in 1966 by René Clément in ‘Paris brûle-t-il?’, but the German director treats it in an innovative way by avoiding captions and illustrative style, and also combining cleverly evocative pictures of repertory with digital reconstructions of magical Parisian skyline.
The traditional idea of Christmas as a day of meeting with your own partner’s family has already been used and abused. However, the originality added by the authors of Boris (a famous Italian tv series), Giacomo Ciarrapico, Mattia Torre, and Luca Vendruscolo, is the vision of Christmas as a celebration of darkness, doomed to end in tragedy, since the ancient times. It’s as if Murphy’s Law was stubbornly unleashed every year, the same (and cursed) day.
Continua la lettura di OGNI MALEDETTO NATALE (EVERY CURSED CHRISTMAS)
“WORLD’S LARGEST CEDAR BUCKET”. It is the opening of the film “Big Significant Things”, which tells the journey of a twenty-six-year-old boy escaping from his future. In San Francisco, waiting for him there is his girlfriend. We never see her face, but we only hear her voice through their several phone calls.
Continua la lettura di Big Significant Things: a transition journey.
“Eau zoo”, a film by Belgian director Emilie Verhamme, is certainly a both fascinating and intricate work. It belongs to the section “Festa Mobile”, one of the widest and most various of the Festival.
Article by: Alisa Marghella
Translation by: Giulia Magazzù
The amazing performance directed by New Yorker Josephine Decker launches the new cooperation between the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation (which has long been paying attention to the promotion of young contemporary artists and to the contamination of artistic languages) and the Torino Film Festival, which entitled the 2nd Prize of Competition (7000 euros) to the Foundation, in acknowledgement of this new bond.
Continua la lettura di AN “ANGRY” PRE-OPENING FOR THE 32nd TFF
Emanuela Martini is a practical person, focused on the substance of things and not interested in any glamour related to the festival. This is partially why the 32nd edition of the Torino Film Festival has suffered some financial cuts, does not have any big acclaimed stars, nor a red carpet or a godmother of the festival. (although there will be an anti-godmother: Anna Mazzamauro). Therefore, this attitude will perfectly match the personality of the new festival director, who proves to be capable of making these cuts her strong point and an opportunity to prove that, other than films, everything is boredom
Continua la lettura di 32ND TORINO FILM FESTIVAL PRESS CONFERENCE
