Nanni Moretti leaves Turin (Variety)

Artistic director exits post at Italian festival

By NICK VIVARELLI

Nanni Moretti has resigned as artistic director of the Turin Film Festival, prompting speculation that another big name Italo helmer may take over as chief of the small but prominent international indie event.

Oscar winners Roberto Benigni, Giuseppe Tornatore, and Gabriele Salvatores are among names being bandied in the Italian press to replace Moretti who stepped down Saturday after a two-year stint.

Moretti said he decided to leave the fest to focus on his next pic which is being kept under wraps beyond the fact that the plan is to start shooting next year.

The auteur's most recent feature is anti-Berlusconi satire "The Caiman" in 2006, which followed his 2001 Cannes Palm d'Or winner "The Son's Room."

"I can no longer guarantee Turin the same amount of attention and energy," Moretti said in a statement.

"I am leaving a unique festival which can still grow and continue to support good independant and auteur cinema," he added.

Moretti's resignation comes one week after Turin wrapped a highly succesful edition which saw Oliver Stone and Roman Polanski as guests, a rise in attendance, and Chilean helmer Pablo Larrain's "Tony Manero" the big winner.

Moretti had come on board Turin two years ago in the wake of stepped up competition posed by the now three-year-old Rome Film Festival to which he has always been averse despite being a quintessential Roman.

While organizers may succeed in recruiting another prominent Italo auteur as Turin artistic director in order to maintain the event's gravitas and visibility, Moretti will certainly be a tough act to follow. Insiders suggests that alternately they may opt for a high-profile professional fest assembler, possibly from outside of Italy.