The festival

Among the most important Italian art film festivals, TOHORRORFILMFEST starts from cinema and then explores all possible means of communication, with the purpose of analysing contemporary society through the deforming lenses provided by the fantastic and horror culture. Thus, through the young authors’ videos and the films made by more expert directors, the meetings, the theatrical performances, the concerts, the art and comics exhibitions, we are enabled to to interpet reality, filtering it through a most wild imagination.

TOHORROR FILM FESTIVAL is seen as a magnifying glass, a periscope, a microscope, a scanner which, through the eye of the camera, the images conveyed by films, pictures and photos, investigates and analyses fears, terror, the permanent horrors and today’s ones.


TOHORRORFILMFEST, promoted and organised by the cultural association DEINOS – Culture and Cinema, was born in Turin in 1999, with Dario Argento as a sponsor. Since the first edition, it presented itself as the fulcrum of the emerging artists’ expectations, until it was officially recognised as one of the most important and interesting Italian art festivals. This acknowledgement was due to the richness of the programme, its interdisciplinarity, the number of competitions, but above all to its double attitude. On the one hand, as a showcase for the indipendent and non-indipendent fantastic production; on the other hand, as a starting point for a reflection and analysis of the social fenomena generating confusion and therefore terror, sometimes even horror. For these reasons, the festival became well-known abroad too; consequently, the number of the foreign films in competition increased exponentially.

The festival has had an important role in reviving this kind of cinema in range of Italian cultural events and other film festivals, which are spreading in various cities and often turn to TOHORROR for a possible partnership, or refer to its organizational features or contents, giving it credit for having an important avant-garde role.

After Master Argento, other famous guests have honoured us with their presence in the last years: namely, Massimo Picozzi, Claudio Simonetti, Sergio Stivaletti, Antonio Caronia, John Duncan, Federico Zampaglione, Ivan Zuccon, Alda Teodorani, Claudio Chiaverotti, Alessandra C., Jean Rollin, John Carr and many others...

There are four sections:

  • FULL-LENGTH FILMS: for films and videos with a length superior to 60 mins.
  • SHORT FILMS: for films and videos with a length inferior to 60 mins.
  • EXPERIMENTAL&MUTATION&ANIMATION: for highly experimental or animation short films.
  • SCREENPLAYS: for an original horror subject.

The Festival also includes openings, monographies, nightly film marathons, theatrical and dancing performances, art exhibitions, comics, posters and photographs, laboratories, debates, meetings with the authors, books presentations, nightly sightseeing to places of interest, such as the Museum of Natural Sciences, the Museum of Antropology, The Lombroso Museum, concerts and parties.


TOHORRORFILMFEST takes place in Turin in the last week of October, between the club Cafè Liber, the Empire cinema, the Feltrinelli and FNAC libraries and the reading club “Il Circolo dei Lettori”.

___________________________________________
Massimiliano Supporta - Davide Saggiorato
TOHORROR FILM FEST