Award-winning Italian director Gianni Amelio was named Wednesday as the new head of the Turin Film Festival.
Amelio, 63, replaces acclaimed auteur Nanni Moretti who stepped down after the recent 26th edition to get back to film-making.
''I've loved and followed this festival since its beginnings,'' Amelio told reporters.
He said he would like to be a ''film director to the festival, and like all directors, perhaps, be forgotten in favour of their products''.
''Everyone remembers the title or plot of a great film but very few remember the director''.
The Calabrian-born Amelio, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for Porte Aperte (Open Doors), reportedly beat out other top Italian directors for the honour of heading the small but increasingly influential indie fest for the next two years.
A statement from the festival organisers said they were sure the new head would keep up the fest's tradition of supporting ''new and emerging talent''.
Amelio won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1998 for Cosi' ridevano (The Way We Laughed) and the second prize at Cannes in 1992 for his Ladri di bambini (Stolen Children).
His graphic depiction of immigration from Albania in 'Lamerica' (1994) also won plaudits.
All three films picked up the best film prize at the European Film Awards.
Amelio has also garnered several prizes and nominations at Italy's equivalent of the Oscars, the David di Donatello awards.
His most recent film is La stella che non c'e' (The Missing Star, 2006), which, like Le chiavi di casa (The Keys To The Door, 2004), was nominated for the Golden Lion.
Moretti, best-known outside Italy for his 2001 Cannes Golden Palm winner La stanza del figlio (The Son's Room), chaired the Turin fest for the last two years.
Moretti, 55, whose most recent film was 2006's The Cayman, resigned on Saturday, a week after a highly successful edition that featured Oliver Stone and Roman Polanski as guests.
Chilean director Pablo Larrain's 'Tony Manero' was the big winner in a year that also saw attendance sharply up.
Amelio's main brief, observers say, will be to continue Moretti's work in carving out a distinct place for Turin on the packed Italian festival scene, where the three-year-old Rome Fest already jostles with venerable Venice.
Turin is known for spotlighting edgy indie fare, particularly from the United States.
