30/11/2008

In a competition marked by optimism, and moreover dominated by dysfunctional families, the jury of the 26th Turin Film Festival (comprising Jonathan Lethem, Dito Montiel, Alba Rohrwacher, Jerzy Stuhr and Alexey German, Jr.) chose to award one of the few “political” films.

The top prize went to Tony Manero by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, who interweaves main character’s (Alfredo Castro, winner of the Best Actor Award) obsession for Saturday Night Fever with the climate of terror instaurato by the Pinochet dictatorship. The film also won the Fipresci Prize and in Italy will be released in January by Ripley’s Film.

The other winners risk not finding Italian distribution, however, including Sean Becker’s independent USA title Prince of Broadway (Special Jury Prize winner) and Belgian film Unspoken [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Fien Troch, which won the dolente Emmanuelle Devos the Best Actress Award.

The documentary competition Italiana.doc was won by Bruno Oliviero’s Napoli Piazza Municipio (see news) for, according to the jury motiviation, “it’s capacity to cogliere with a cinematic and kaleidoscopic sguardo the many anime and contradictions of a city through the story of one of its most symbolic luoghi”.

Lastly, the Cipputi Award for Best Film on the World of Work went to Portuguese title Entre Os Dedos by Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra.

The official winners and parallel prizes

TORINO 26
Best Film: Tony Manero by Pablo Larraín
Special Jury Prize: Prince of Broadway di Sean Baker
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Devos (Unspoken)
Best Actor: Alfredo Castro (Tony Manero)

ITALIANA.DOC
Best Italian Documentary: Napoli Piazza Municipio bu Bruno Oliviero
Special Jury Prize: Rata nece biti – Non ci sarà la guerra di Daniele Gaglianone

ITALIANA.CORTI
Best Italian Short: A chi è già morto a chi sta per morire by Fulvio Pepe
Special Jury Prize-Kodak Short Film Award: Ottana by Pietro Mele
Special Mention: La nonna by Massimo Alì Mohammad

SPAZIO TORINO
Chicca Richelmy Award for Best Short Film: Archive of Dreams by Tomás Sheridan

CIPPUTI AWARD
Best Film on the World of Work: Entre os dedos by Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra

FIPRESCI PRIZE
Best Film of the Torino 26 Competition: Tony Manero by Pablo Larraín

PREMIO INVITO ALLA SCUOLA HOLDEN
Premio Invito alla Scuola Holden: Dennis Gansel and Peter Thorwarth (The Wave [+see also:
trailer
film profile])

Achille Valdata Audience Award
Best Film of Torino 26: Quemar las naves by Francisco Franco

AVANTI! Prize (Agenzia Valorizzazione Autori Nuovi Tutti Italiani)
Casa Verdi by Anna Franceschini
Il grande progetto by Vincenzo Marra
Signori Professori by Maura Delpero
Uso improprio by Luca Gasparini e Alberto Masi
Italiano per stranieri by Brian Christopher Griffin

UCCA – VENTI CITTÀ Award
Best Documentary of Italiana.doc: Signori Professori by Maura Delpero

PREMIO MAURIZIO COLLINO – UNO SGUARDO AI GIOVANI
Best Film from the Lo Stato Delle Cose Section: Di madre in figlia by Andrea Zambelli
Special Mention: Hunger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Hastings-Smith Rob…
interview: Steve McQueen
film profile] by Steve McQueen

(Translated from Italian)