Set of the first "colossal" film
In 1914, the director Giovanni Pastrone signed the first "colossal" (a term used in Italy to designate a big-budget film with numerous special effects, the equivalent of a blockbuster) and shot the peplum Cabiria partly in the old Porta Susa train station and in the Dora Riparia factories. The script is co-written by the writer Gabriele D'Annunzio, while its length is 3,364 meters for about three hours and ten minutes of show - the longest for the time! - and that its production cost represents almost twenty times the average cost of a film at the time. Fortunately for the investors, it was a worldwide success: it remained in theaters for no less than six months in New York and was probably the first film to be shown in the White House.
The Mole Antonelliana and its Museum of Cinema
Turin is of course known for its incredible film museum. More than an institute where a collection of more than 2 million items is kept, the museum was designed to evoke a truly spectacular journey. The Swiss scenographer François Confino has made the most of the Mole Antonelliana
's scenery. Its 167-meter high dome is crossed by an elevator that serves the various galleries, each of which has a custom-made décor. It is the largest museum dedicated to the seventh art in Europe. Naturally, it has a relic of the film Cabiria: the statue of the god Moloch is on display, along with many relics of the seventh art: cameras, posters, costumes, sets, etc.Some mythical films and settings
To enjoy Turin on the big screen, here are some of the movies that were filmed in the capital of Piedmont.
Valentino Castle, one of the residences of the Savoy royal family, hosted the filming of King Vidor's War and Peace
(1956), adapted from Leo Tolstoy's novel, with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.La Donna della domenica
by Luigi Comencini, released in 1975, shows Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Louis Trintignant walking in Piazza della Repubblica and at the Porta Palazzo market.Released the same year, Profondo Rosso, by Dario Argento, was also shot in Turin. The apartment where the murder takes place in the opening scene is located in Piazza CLN . It is said that he chose this city as the setting for Profondo Rosso
because of the surprisingly dense presence of practicing Satanists. The great master of Italian genre cinema, known as "Giallo", particularly appreciates the supernatural and occult atmosphere of the city, having shot no less than seven films there! More recently, Paolo Sorrentino chose the city's mansions as the backdrop for his film Il Divo, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2008 and focuses on the life of one of Italy's most famous statesmen, Giulio Andreotti.Production
The city has several assets that favor film production and offer professionals many advantages. In particular, the Film Commission Torino Piemonte is a foundation whose main goal is to help film and audiovisual production companies realize their projects, whether national or international, in all genres.
In a more artisanal register, the Superottomonamour is a cinematographic laboratory installed in the suburbs of Turin. Based on the model of the independent laboratory MTK founded in Grenoble, its Turin counterpart, created in 1998 by a group of local filmmakers including Stefano Canapa, offers filmmakers who wish to do so a free space for autonomous production.
