MUMBAI: The administrator of Turin Film Festival announced that Italian director Paolo Virzi will be its next artistic director. He will succeed director Gianni Amelio as the head of the festival.

Virzi is the man behind Italian comedies like My Name is Tanino (2002), Tutta la vita davanti (Her Whole Life Ahead, 2008) and La prima cosa bella (The First Beautiful Thing, 2010). But he is still little known beyond Italy’s borders.
Virzi has 11 nominations and two wins at Italy’s David di Donatello awards, and a special jury prize in Venice in 1997 for the comedy Ovosodo (Hardboiled Egg) to his credit.

The Turin Film Festival is one of Italy’s most highly regarded film events and the only major Italian film festival to see ticket sales rise this year compared to 2011. The festival will take place from 25 December to 3 January in Turin.