TFF {Torino Film Festival}

I feel like a broken record when I talk about Torino, cars, movies…oh and coffee. Yep, that is what this city seems to be built on. Well I guess that’s not true as it was built on Roman ruins, but you know what I mean, right?
So this week is the Torino film festival. I spent Sunday watching 4 films. In a row. Yeah, it was kind of a lot. I am a saver, so I wanted to get my money’s worth and the best way to do that was to get a day pass and watch a lot of films in one day.
The first was an American film but one that I probably wouldn’t watch at home and it was entertaining. It also helped that it was 9 am and I didn’t have to read subtitles. Sorry Italian viewers {otherwise known as everyone else in the audience}. So after watching Win Win, I was one for 4.
The next film was the one that I planned my day around. It was intriguing to me. It is called 17 girls (17 filles) and is about the pact that a group of girls made in 2008 to get pregnant at the same time. I spent a whole school year doing a report in 2007 on unplanned pregnancy and I have a huge heart for adoption, single moms and most of all babies. There is a lot of controversy surrounding these events that took place, and there was some strong opinions voiced when the French film makers announced their project. The film did a good job of telling the story and showing the different viewpoints of the people involved without saying if there was a correct path or view point. I was now 2 for 4. {I did a little bit of research and found some news articles about the actual events. Authorities could not actually state that there was an official “pact”, as was portrayed in the movie.}
After this we {I went with my friend Megan, who had to go to the festival for class} watched two short films that were paired together. The first, I’m going to be honest was not my favorite. It was a documentary that seemed to stray from a plot or storyline. It seemed like the director didn’t have enough material so the scenes were long. From an artistic standpoint it was done beautifully. From an entertainment standpoint there are many things that they could have done better. The inspiration behind the film was from the stories that the producer heard from his Italian grandfather. The grandson wanted to preserve these memories and lives in NY {which I could tell from how he spoke Italian}. The director and the producer were both in the audience which was neat. I would have to say I was 2 for 4 still.
The director was also in the audience for the last film which was a documentary. It was done in an interesting way, but told the story well. The plot and the end goal of the movie were not apparent until the middle of the film. It was the story of the immigrants to Italy from Libya. This is a story that does not get told often, and it was fascinating. There was every view represented, the compassionate, the hardened hearted, the people caught between wanting to help and not being able to and the immigrants themselves. It stirred my passion for people. 3 for 4.

That seems like a good record to me, for not knowing what I was getting myself into! It made me want to be lazy for the rest of the day, but I was good and got some work done.
The festival goes the rest of this week until next Sunday. School has picked up, so I don’t think I will be able to go to another showing. Have you seen any good ‘films’ lately?