Over 270 short and feature-length films were featured this year at the Turin festival, perhaps only second to Venice in Italy's festival hierarchy, showcasing the freshest international talent around today working in both film and video.

Held from 15 to 23 November, attendance this year was up only slightly from the record 45,000 reached in 1995, but foreign press accreditations increased by more than 12%.

Although it has no real market activity in terms of generating sales and acquisitions, the Turin event is one of a handful of pioneering European festivals instrumental in introducing unknowns, especially from Central Asian and Near Eastern countries, to international critics and press before they become mainstream festival fodder.

Highlights included the latest independent offerings from France and The Netherlands and retrospectives dedicated to the work of Jerzy Skolimowski and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Both Skolimowski and Makhmalbaf attended the festival, with the Iranian director sitting on the Feature Film Competition jury, while international actress Ornella Muti came to town to represent feature-film competitor Pour Rire! by Lucas Belvaux.

The 1997 edition of the Turin Festival will run from 14-22 November. The few details so far include a retrospective of Mexican film from 1935 to 1959 featuring a spotlight on the films of Arturo Ripstein. Jacqueline Christian