Torino's 44th Festival Sets Women at the Heart of Its Competition and Juries
Ten of the 16 films in the feature competition at the 44th Torino Film Festival are directed by women, Variety reported on 6 November 2026. It is the second year running that the count has stood at 10.
The festival will run from 24 November to 2 December 2026, according to its official site. Giulio Base, the artistic director, has put together a selection of 120 titles across six sections. The programming team sifted through more than 5,000 submissions to reach that list, Variety said.
Three juries, the panels that pick the prize winners, will also be led by women. Francesca Archibugi chairs the feature competition jury, Stefania Casini oversees the documentary competition jury, and Chiara Francini will handle the shorts jury. The short-film selection matches the feature competition in its share of films directed by women.
Among the feature competition titles are Butterfly, directed by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen and starring Renate Reinsve. Also in the line-up is The Last Day, directed by Rachel Rose and led by Alicia Vikander and Wagner Moura. A third is When She Hears the Bells, directed by Chabname Zariab and starring Golshifteh Farahani.
The festival has been running for a long time. It began in 1982 as the International Youth Film Festival, according to its website. Its 43rd edition ran from 21 to 29 November 2025.
Festival lineups are chosen long before the films reach cinemas or streaming services. A title announced in a competition like this one is the first public step on a path that can take a year or more to reach audiences, and some never leave the festival circuit at all. For now, the list is set, and the juries are ready to start work in late November.
