Torino, Cinema City 2020

In 2020, in occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the National Cinema Museum opening at Mole Antonelliana and of the birth of the Film Commission Torino Piemonte, the Piedmontese capital will be the "Cinema City".

A double bond, a matched attraction between Torino and the cinema, that has its roots in the past and the concreteness of the present, able to become the protagonist of the city's cultural life. A bond that manifests itself on one hand in the union between the Mole Antonelliana - symbol and icon of the city - and the National Cinema Museum hosted there, and on the other hand in the numerous films that in recent years have brought Torino to the big screen showing its beauty and potential. A overview that highlights a variety of institutions, associations, institutes and laboratories that identifies Torino as an excellence in the national and international scene.

Torino and the cinema

The cinema arrived in Torino at the end of 1800. At the beginning of 1900, with the birth of the first sound stages and of the first film production companies (Anonima Ambrosio company , Itala Film to mention some of them), a solid film industry started to develop, that made Torino the capital of the Italian silent cinema.

In 1914 Giovanni Pastrone films Cabiria, the first blockbuster in the history of cinema, which opens the way to a whole series of other productions that lead to the development of a real film industry, with the birth of the first magazines, of category newspapers, of advertising posters, while the press begins to deal with cinema more and more often. With the introduction of sound, at the end of the 1920s, the industry moved to Rome. However Torino remained one of the favourite locations of national and international directors.

The fact that subalpine capital managed to regain this important past is thanks to a determined woman. The National Cinema museum was ideally born in 1941, when Maria Adriana Prolo designed the creation of a place dedicated to the collection of documents from the Torino film industry. She was the first to understand how important it was to safeguard this heritage. The Cinema Museum opened in 1958 at Palazzo Chiablese and immediately affirmed itself thanks to the richness of its collections. It remained open until 1985 and opened again on the 20th of July 2000, in the new location at Mole Antonelliana.

The cinema - which has always been an identifying element of the city - has led to the creation of a deep-rooted and consolidated system over time, made of history, investments and exceptional competences, which includes the entire chain of the film industry: from creation and training to production and distribution, from experimental centers to film festivals, thanks to the important contribution of public and private institutions of the area. Where there are culture, production and innovation there is always research and training. Because of this the Universities, the Polytechnic University, the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts, the National Cinema Museum, schools, the Experimental Center, institutes and laboratories offer a high-level educational offer to young people, to professionals and to the film industry.

20 years of the National Cinema Museum and Film Commission Torino Piemonte

20th of July 2000: the National Cinema Museum opens to the public in the renewed location at Mole Antonelliana, with the evocative and amazing setting by François Confino.

On the same day, Film Commission Torino Piemonte was formally established with the aim of promoting Torino and Piedmont as a film and television location.

The double birthday will then the occasion to celebrate Torino and its deep and indissoluble relationship with the seventh art, highlighting the variety of associations, institutes and laboratories that identify it as an excellence in the national and European scene.

This is how 'Torino, Cinema City 2020. A year long movie' was born, a project of the city of Torino, the National Cinema Museum and Film Commission Torino, Piemonte, with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, in collaboration with the Regione Piemonte, the Cultural Foundation of Torino and media partner Rai.