02/01/2007

Nanni Moretti, who at the end of last year accepted to be director of the Turin Film Festival , has now turned down the offer after controversial statements were made by Gianni Rondolino, president of the association previously in charge of organising the event.

Attempts by Alberto Barbera, director of the Turin National Film Museum (which now organises and finances the festival), to change the director’s opinion have been in vain.

The director of The Caïman has stuck to his guns. "Instead of simplifying things, my presence has complicated them," he wrote in a press release. "My presence immediately created an atmosphere of tension, controversy and mutual accusations. They also said I was a political instrument to stifle the independence of the festival. I wanted to make this festival an event to be shared by all those who love cinema, but we have got off to a bad start. Now there is a dark shadow looming over this project, which would make it impossible for me to be happy or enthusiastic working on it. It is therefore with much sadness that I am turning down the position, and I’ll let you carry on with your problems of method, vagaries of procedures and personal resentment”.

It is a missed opportunity for Italian cinema, given the efforts made in December by the government (see news) to include Turin, along with the Venice and Rome festivals, in a new international promotion project.

(Translated from Italian)