ABOUT US
About us
TUC Project
TUC Project
The Torino Underground is an international festival of independent cinema that attracts the interest of over 2500 filmmakers from around the world each year. Spanning 10 days, it showcases over 100 films, including competition entries, out-of-competition works, and special events, along with numerous meetings with authors and producers. The event captures the attention of film enthusiasts, industry professionals, and the curious from across northern Italy, benefiting from collaborations with various local media partners.
Welcome back to the 13th edition!
For its 13th edition, the festival event will last for ten days, to offer more time for insights with the authors.
TUC_13 will be held in a very important location for the Turin “Cinema” universe, which is located in the heart of the city, at the marvelous Cinema Baretti.
Cash prizes are awarded for the best feature film. Also, special awards will be assigned to: best short film, best documentary, best AI film, best director, best actor, best actress, best cinematographer, best editor and best sound designer. There will be an audience award and mentions assigned by our media partners.
The festival counts on the help of media-partnerships and cultural partners in the area.
Note to sales companies and distributors: No screening fees will be paid for festival selections.
— AI VISIONS – Torino Underground Cinefest —
Torino Underground Cinefest (TUC) proudly launches AI VISIONS, a new competitive section dedicated to films created partially or entirely using Artificial Intelligence.
This section celebrates independent voices exploring the intersection of cinema and machine creativity. From fully AI-generated narratives to hybrid human-machine collaborations, AI VISIONS showcases how filmmakers are redefining storytelling, aesthetics, and authorship.
There are no limits except the limits everyone will put to himself!
Unlike all the other art forms, film is able to seize and render the passage of time, to stop it, almost to possess it in infinity. I’d say that film is the sculpting of time.
Andrei Tarkovsky
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
FOUNDER AND GENERAL MANAGER
Mauro Russo Rouge
Born on September 24, 1979 in Castel San Giorgio (Salerno). At the end of 2013 he founded the Torino Underground Cinefest. Initially the festival lasted 2 days. Today it lasts 10 days during which over 100 films from all over the world are shown. In 2014 he made his first feature film Censurado: Ode to Love, selected in several international festivals: Sanford (USA), San Antonio (USA), Veracruz (Mexico) and Rome (Italy). His second feature film Aberrant premiered in March 2017, taking part in many international festivals and winning the Best Film award at the Texas Independent Film Festival and the Sutter Creek International Film Festival.
The third feature film IRA, presented at the 42nd Denver Film Festival, was released in Italian theatres in November 2019, distributed by Mescalito Film. His fourth feature film, C.L.A.B. (2020), has the tones of the action movie and is completely devoid of dialogue. It was bought for the North American market by Osiris\Paragon.
Bloom Up (2021), his fifth film, represents the author’s debut in the documentary genre. It has been sold in Usa, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Spain and Taiwan and it was selected at Hot Docs Toronto 2021, Biografilm 2021 and Atlantida Mallorca FilmFest 2021.
Radiopornopanda (2022) is his second documentary on eroticism. It was acquired for the German market by Donau film. In Italy it was distributed by I Wonder Pictures. The television rights for the Italian market were acquired by the broadcaster Sky Cielo.
The Last Playboy (2023) concludes the erotic trilogy. The television rights for the Italian market were acquired by the broadcaster Sky Cielo. The author is currently planning a return to fiction movie. He is also working on a TV series for Sky Cielo called Radiopornopanda On the Road (2024).
Bostik, La Bodega de D10S (2025)
The story of Antonio Esposito, known as “Bostik” in the Spanish Quarters of Naples, who in the 1990s commissioned a mural in honor of the Pibe de Oro, turning the square where the artwork stands into a tourist destination for fans from all over the world. The film was released in Italian theaters on May 22, 2025.
TUC TEAM
TUC TEAM
FOUNDER AND GENERAL MANAGER
Mauro Russo Rouge
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Alessandro Amato
ORGANIZERS
Associazione culturale SYSTEMOUT
Associazione Baretti
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Alessio Brusco
Alice Sola
Marco Nassisi
Riccardo Cristiani
PRESS OFFICE
LEFTY
TRANSLATIONS AND SUBTITLES
Riccardo Cristiani
Q&A MANAGER
Fabrizio Odetto
INTERPRETERS
Luisa Galliano
Jessica Adinolfi
HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Luisa Galliano
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT AND DCP
Alessio Brusco
GRAPHICS & MARKETING
R0.MA
BUSINESS CONSULTING AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Elisabetta Savaglio – SOFOS
WEBMASTER & SOCIAL MEDIA
OneBit Web Agency Torino
VIDEO & PHOTOS
Mattia Caterina
TICKET OFFICE
Arianna Issoglio
Jury
Jury EDITION 2026
ANGELO D’AGOSTINO
(FEATURE COMPETITION)
Angelo D’Agostino is an author, independent film producer, and creative consultant. As a producer and consultant for films and documentaries, he has shepherded numerous projects from development to festival distribution, collaborating on documentaries such as Družina (The Family) by Rok Biček, Cent’anni by Maja Prelog, and Riga Brothers by Giorgio Bonecchi Borgazzi, which will premiere in 2027. His narrative film credits include the youth drama La Vie Nous Appartient by Alex K. Lee (2013), the romantic comedy Rest in Greece by Florian Gottschick (2019), which was nominated for the Eurimages Award at Karlovy Vary, and Chasing Paper Birds by Mariana Jukić (2020).
VIOLA SARTORETTO
(FEATURE COMPETITION)
Viola Sartoretto is an actress and costume designer who trained at the Eutheca Academy in Rome. She has worked in film and television with directors such as Pupi Avati, Lucio Pellegrini, Alessandro Angelini, Emanuele Caruso, Nicola Campiotti, and Giuseppe Gagliardi. Her screen credits include Un matrimonio, Non uccidere, La terra buona, Il talento del calabrone, Petra, and Il nostro generale. Alongside her screen work, she pursues theater training and research with the Resti collective.
MATTIA TEMPONI
(FEATURE COMPETITION)
Mattia Temponi is a director and screenwriter who has been working in film and audiovisual media since 2003, spanning short films, documentaries, and feature films. He has directed L’Ultima Notte, Herd, and Aida, which screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. In 2022, he released El Nido, his debut narrative feature film, an Italian-Argentine co-production. A professor of Writing for the Screen at the University of Turin, he is currently developing Match, his second narrative feature.
FEDERICA ZANCATO
(DOC COMPETITION)
Holding a degree in Cinema from the University of Turin, she serves as Deputy Director of Turin’s Glocal Film Festival and works with Piemonte Movie to promote and distribute regional cinema. She also teaches film courses in upper secondary schools and conducts animation workshops for AIACE and the National Cinema Archive of the Resistance (Archivio Nazionale Cinematografico della Resistenza).
FRANCESCO DRAGONE
(DOC COMPETITION)
Francesco Dragone is a director, videomaker, cinematographer, producer, and editor with a background spanning cinema, anthropology, and visual culture. For over fifteen years, he has been developing audiovisual projects across Europe, Africa, and North America, combining anthropological research with documentary storytelling. In 2013, he directed his debut feature documentary, Shared Visions, and in the following years, he has continued to explore social and cultural themes with a keen eye on people, communities, and intercultural dialogue.
ALESSANDRO CARROLI
(DOC COMPETITION)
Alessandro Carroli is a film producer and co-founder of EiE Film, an independent production company based in Turin. Following a background in communication, media, and film studies, he has collaborated with several Italian production companies, focusing in particular on auteur documentaries and international co-productions. His projects have been selected and awarded at major international festivals and distributed in over 25 countries. Among his most recent productions is the short film Domenica Sera (Sunday Evening) by Matteo Tortone, which screened as the closing film of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week and won a David di Donatello award.
MERI DISHNICA
(SHORT FILM COMPETITION)
Meri Dishnica is an interdisciplinary artist—screenwriter, director, poet, performer, and visual artist—with a background in psychology. Alongside her artistic practice, she works as a creative director, curator, and jury member for platforms dedicated to independent cinema.
ZELIA ZBOGAR
(SHORT FILM COMPETITION)
Zelia Zbogar, a screenwriter and story editor, began her career working with Cinema Beltrade before dedicating herself to documentaries. She crafts immersive stories, often navigating the line between reality and fiction. She works both on personal projects and on stories by others. She wrote the short films Domenica Sera by Matteo Tortone, winner of the 2025 David di Donatello Award; Restare by Fabio Bobbio, the opening short film of the 2025 Venice International Film Critics’ Week; and Gusci by Francesca Trovato and Elisa Chiari, selected for competition at SIC@SIC 2026. Alongside her screenwriting, she works as an editor with the film production company EiE Film in Turin.
VIREN BELTRAMO
(SHORT FILM COMPETITION)
Viren Beltramo is a director and author who has developed her creative practice across writing, cinema, theater, and photography. Notable among her short films is the award-winning Buon Natale, which was selected for the first edition of Word Frame at the TSFM and acquired by Rai Cinema. She is currently developing her debut narrative feature, La Pista d’Oro, produced across Italy, Spain, and Romania, supported by the MiC development fund, and awarded by Cristian Mungiu as part of Write a Screenplay for 2025.
DAVIDE BORRA
(AI VISIONS)
Davide Borra is an innovator, director, and immersive digital technologies professional with over twenty-five years of experience across 3D, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence. In 1999, he founded No Real Interactive, a company specializing in the development of digital and immersive experiences for culture, industry, communication, and healthcare. In recent years, his research has focused on the integration of AI and XR, with a particular emphasis on Virtual Presence and the creation of real-time 3D conversational avatars and Digital Humans. In 2023, he joined VRforCARE—an innovative startup utilizing immersive technologies in therapeutic contexts—as CTO. He has served as a lecturer at Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, and NABA Milan. Since 2017, he has taught at IAAD Turin, focusing on immersive environments and digital innovation. He is a co-founder and former President of MIMOS (Italian Association for Modeling and Simulation).
PAOLO ARMAO
(AI VISIONS)
Paolo Armao is a sound designer with over 15 years of experience in games, film, and animated movies, currently serving as Audio Director at 34BigThings. He focuses on experimental audio recording techniques and creative sound design solutions aimed at enhancing the audiovisual experience. He has spoken at GDC 2023 and GameSoundCon 2019, as well as lecturing at universities across Europe and Asia. He previously taught at the Animation Department of the Italian National Film School (Scuola Nazionale di Cinema), sharing his approach to sound design for conceptual and narrative development. He is the founder and Sound Design lead at Experimental Film Virginia (US), an artist residency exploring the intersection of sound and movement.
FABRIZIO NASTASI
(AI VISIONS)
Fabrizio Nastasi has been working in post-production supervision for cinema, television, and advertising since 2003. His background, which began as a technical director for Virtual Set productions, has enabled him to develop a comprehensive understanding of the entire production workflow and to interface seamlessly with all departments involved in audiovisual creation. In his role as Post-Production Supervisor—and frequently as VFX Supervisor—he serves as a bridge between the technical, artistic, and financial needs of a production, ensuring high quality standards in finalizing the material shot on set.
The Torino Underground is an international festival of independent cinema that attracts the interest of over 2500 filmmakers from around the world each year. Spanning 10 days, it showcases over 100 films, including competition entries, out-of-competition works, and special events, along with numerous meetings with authors and producers. The event captures the attention of film enthusiasts, industry professionals, and the curious from across northern Italy, benefiting from collaborations with various local media partners.
Welcome back to the 13th edition!
For its 13th edition, the festival event will last for ten days, to offer more time for insights with the authors.
TUC_13 will be held in a very important location for the Turin “Cinema” universe, which is located in the heart of the city, at the marvelous Cinema Baretti.
Cash prizes are awarded for the best feature film, best short film and best documentary. Also, special awards will be assigned to: best director, best actor, best actress, best cinematographer, best editor and best sound designer. There will be an audience award and mentions assigned by our media partners.
The festival counts on the help of media-partnerships and cultural partners in the area.
IMPORTANT: FOR SALES AND VARIOUS CATALOGUES: WE DO NOT EXPECT THE PAYMENT OF ANY SCREENING FEES
Jury
Jury LAST EDITION 2023
JURY COORDINATOR
Annunziato Gentiluomo
FEATURE FILM JURY
Alexander Bak Sagmo (PRESIDENTE) – Director
Cristiano Anania – Film director and producer
Fabrizio Accatino – Journalist
Antonio Romagnoli – Director
ELENA CIOFALO
(SHORT FILM COMPETITION)
Elena Ciofalo has been working in cultural project management between Turin and Aosta for ten years. Since December 2023, she has been project manager and head of strategic planning for the activities of the National Short Film Center. She is also co-founder of the Valle d’Aosta association AIACE VDA. Previously, between 2018 and 2023, she was project manager in the Cultural Valorization and Audience Development area of the Polo del ‘900 Foundation in Turin. From 2021 to 2023, she collaborated as a producer with the production company Cinefonie.
In 2022, he was selected for the Torino Film Lab with a TV series project, and in 2023, he was a finalist for the “Solinas Award” with the screenplay for the film “Sbarre”. He is currently writing his debut feature film
SHORT FILM JURY
Antonello Schioppa (PRESIDENTE) – Director
Bernardo Migliaccio Spina – Director
Pietro Cestari – Producer
Giacomo Tinti – Film critic
DOCUMENTARY JURY
Zelia Zbogar (PRESIDENTE) – Screenwriter, story editor and producer
Carlo Griseri – Journalist and film critic
Enrico Le Pera – Film lecturer, director, screenwriter and producer
Paolo Favaro – Fitter
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability
Torino Underground Cinefest Environmental Sustainability Manifesto
We at the Torino Underground Cinefest declare our commitment to promoting and sustaining environmentally friendly practices in all our activities. Cinema has the power to inspire and influence, and we firmly believe that our festival should set an example of ecological responsibility.
Principles and Objectives:
Reduction of CO2 Emissions:
– We encourage the use of sustainable transportation for guests and participants.
Sustainable Event Management:
– We avoid single-use plastics, favoring biodegradable and compostable alternatives.
Waste Reduction:
– We implement an efficient recycling system during all festival events.
– We promote the use of reusable containers among our staff and participants.
Promotion of Environmental Awareness:
– We offer a selection of films and documentaries that address environmental themes. The new section, called Slow Ambient Content, aims to provide an immersive and enlightening experience.
Our Ongoing Commitment:
We are dedicated to continuously monitoring and improving our sustainable practices. We recognize the importance of adapting and growing with global ecological awareness, ensuring that the Torino Underground Cinefest is not only a festival of cinematic excellence but also a model of environmental responsibility.
Together we can make a difference. Join us on our journey towards a greener and more sustainable future.