On the occasion of the 27th Torino Film Festival, a new award has been created that takes its name from Fellini’s 8½. From its inception, the Festival, which supports and explores the newest independent cinema and most daring films currently being made, has continually honoured the grand masters of modern cinematography through retrospectives, tributes and publications.

This year, in keeping with tradition, the Festival’s new director, Gianni Amelio, has created an award to acknowledge directors who, from the emergence of the nouvelles vagues in the 1960s, have contributed to the renewal of the cinematographic language and trends that are the basis of the most representative and interesting expressions of contemporary cinema.

Inspired by Fellini’s masterpiece, a man who knew better than anyone else how to give form to the representation of artistic complexity, creative anguish and the fascination of film, the 8½ Award will be presented to Emir Kusturica, for the inventive quality of his films and the absolute originality of his style.
Kusturica will receive the 8½ award at the opening of the Festival, which will also feature unreleased footage from ARIZONA DREAM and TIME OF THE GYPSIES, as well as the close to eight-hour long version of UNDERGROUND, never before seen in Italy.

In honour of the awards debut, a second 8½ prize will also be awarded to Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope, for its contribution to the renewal of the film industry in the USA and its invaluable role as an interface between classic cinema and the cinema of the future.
Francis Ford Coppola will be in Torino to receive the award on behalf of his company and for the Italian preview of his latest film, TETRO, distributed by BIM. To honour Coppola, the Festival will also screen RUMBLE FISH and the restored version of THE RED SHOES, the masterpiece by Powell and Pressburger to which TETRO pays a moving tribute.