Torino GLBT Film Festival 2009: Ferzan Ozpetek

2009 Torino GLBT Film Festival: Filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek (above, with festival director Giovanni Minerba) presents "the films of his life."
Ozpetek’s quotes below are from the festival’s press release.
"I couldn’t have been happier when Giovanni Minerba made this proposition to me. I wanted to start out with a series of ‘Madames,’ ranging from the splendid Madame X, by David Lowell Rich, with Lana Turner, to Madame Rosa, [starring] Simone Signoret, and then on to Madame Sousatzka by John Schlesinger, with the intriguing Shirley MacLaine, and finishing off with Madame de… directed by Max Ophüls, in 1953.
"Unfortunately there were problems in getting the films, so the only remaining ‘madame’ [...]

Torino GLBT Film Festival 2009: Javier Cámara, CHEF’S SPECIAL

Nacho G. Velilla’s Spanish comedy Fuera de Carta / Chef’s Special opened the 24th edition of the Torino GLBT FIlm Festival last night.
In Chef’s Special, a highly regarded chef (Javier Cámara, above, with festival programmer Cosimo Santoro and Velilla) working at a trendy restaurant in Chueca, Madrid’s gay neighborhood, believes that life is just perfect. It doesn’t take long, however, for imperfection to knock at his door in the form of his children from a former marriage and of a hunky ex-soccer player from Argentina.
The festival’s opening ceremony was hosted by actress Lucia Ocone, and featured a special appearance by veteran actress Franca Valeri. Valeri can be seen in Vittorio Caprioli’s Lions Lying in the [...]

Torino GLBT Film Festival 2009: Q&A with Festival Director Giovanni Minerba

 
Giovanni Minerba (above), director of the Torino GLBT Film Festival, and his staff have been busy selecting entries for the 24th edition of Turin’s annual gay & lesbian film event, which will take place April 23-30.
In addition to competition and out-of-competition screenings, the festival will feature homages, retrospectives, and assorted sidebars, including a tribute to Spanish director Ventura Pons, best known internationally for the touching Food of Love; a screening of the films of author-filmmaker Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, whose best-known directorial effort is probably ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore; and a sidebar featuring several entries handpicked by filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek and another showcasing campy sword-and-sandal epics of the early ’60s.
Festival director Minerba has kindly agreed to answer [...]