Known for championing first and second features, the Torino Film Festival has increasingly become a showcase for rising female talent.
For the second year running, 10 of the 16 films in Torino’s feature competition are directed by women, a proportion now matched by this year’s short-film selection. While few festivals, in Italy or elsewhere, can match Torino’s level of inclusion, artistic director Giulio Base is adamant that such results “have nothing to do with quotas.”
“This is part of a worldwide trend in the film industry,” says Base. “Women are already doing great work, so it’s not about percentages. I only care about good films, and there are plenty of them.”
Of course, a familiar face never hurts, and Torino’s competition boasts more star power than most. Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s “Butterfly,” starring Renate Reinsve, Chabname Zariab’s “When She Hears the Bells,” starring Golshifteh Farahani, and Rachel Rose’s “The Last Day,” led by Alicia Vikander and Wagner Moura, all see established arthouse names lending their profiles to emerging female filmmakers.
Meanwhile, recent festival breakouts like Muriel D’Ansembourg’s “Truly Naked,” Sarah Arnold’s “Too Many Beasts” and Amira Duynhouwer’s “Sugar” reflect the curatorial freedom of a festival less preoccupied with bragging rights.
“I’m not obsessed with securing world premieres,” Base explains. “I don’t think the Turin public goes around the world’s festivals saying, ‘I’ve already seen it.’ I’d rather choose the strongest films out there.”
To sift through more than 5,000 submissions, Base assembled a gender-balanced selection committee, recruiting every member before they turned 30. He sees that generational mix as essential.
“Ultimately, the question of women comes down to who’s watching the films,” Base explains. “I’m the old guy, so I want fresh eyes on work coming in from all over the world. When the six young men and women and I sit down to discuss the selections, I realize we all watch differently, and I always benefit from the exchange.”
All the same, Torino has decisively leaned in, marking its 44th edition with three women-led juries. Director Francesca Archibugi (“Vivere”) will chair the feature competition, while film legend Stefania Casini (“1900,” “Suspiria”) oversees the documentary competition and pop culture icon Chiara Francini (“Miracle at St. Anna,” “Drag Race Italia”) handles shorts. The festival will also enlist an all-female roster of journalists and academics to introduce films in this year’s Marilyn Monroe retrospective.
“Marilyn was so often seen as a sensual object,” Base says. “For me, it’s important that 24 women share their perspectives to show that she was so much more than that.”
This year’s selection spans 120 titles across six sections. True to its mission as a showcase for emerging talent, and its origins as the Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani (literally, the Festival of Young Cinema), stories of youth abound. Asked which films resonate with him personally (“It’s not good for a director to pick favorites, but I’m human and I have my preferences”), Base singles out recent TIFF winner “Thirteen in Gaza,” by Palestinian filmmaker Hosam Abu Da, and “Good People,” a documentary by Venice Golden Lion winner Milcho Manchevski.
“The title already says a lot,” Base says of “Thirteen in Gaza.”
“[‘Thirteen in Gaza’] was the first film shot and completed in Gaza in 12 years. I think it’s important to hear voices like this, even if the director can’t attend for the reasons we all know. People shouldn’t miss this one.”
Base is even more emphatic about Manchevski’s documentary, calling it “probably the film that affected me most during this selection process.”
“It’s about a disco in Macedonia that caught fire about 20 months ago, much like the one in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve,” says Base. “I don’t know how many young people perished in that fire, but the people he interviewed gave such touching, unsensationalized testimony about what it was like to be there. It’s a great documentary, and enormously moving.”
Looking ahead, Base, who holds a doctorate in theology, stays true to himself when asked about his goals.
“I’m a dreamer,” he says. “I’d like to take the festival to the top of the charts. That’s what we’re trying to build and that’s our ambition. It’s not easy, because we have maybe a tenth of what the big festivals have, but sometimes David beats Goliath.”