GIFF: Tribute evening to “Toto, the greatest of French-speaking people”

For his 30^e anniversary, the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF), true to form, intends to give pride of place to the small screen. It is therefore quite natural that a special tribute is paid to Claude Torracinta, giant of television giants, who died in May of this year.

To do justice to the immense career of this essential figure, Geneva director Jacob Berger took it upon himself to put together a magnificent documentary, broadcast last night in Geneva for the opening of the GIFF.

A huge star

“In the 70s and 80s, no one – no athlete, no politician, no star – was as famous as Claude Torracinta… not even Patrick Juvet,” introduces Jacob Berger (who also takes on the role of narrator in his film). The person concerned then appears on the screen. “Toto”, as he was nicknamed at the time, with his priceless blow-dry and an elegance that does not find a sufficient superlative to describe it.

From his childhood until the end of his television years, the life of Claude Torracinta is deciphered, illustrated and above all admirably well commented. Punctuated by testimonies from former colleagues (or even rivals), the film looks back on the highlights of Torracinta’s life: his birth in the Le Havre region, his arrival in Geneva at 14, his time at Collège Calvin, his diploma of political science…

After studying for a summer at Harvard under the tutelage of the future head of diplomacy Henry Kissinger, Claude Torracinta returned to Switzerland. His American experience convinced him of one thing: television is the future. “Torracinta had an incredible instinct: he understood that television had greatly changed American society, and that these changes would also happen in Switzerland,” maintains Jacob Berger.

Class and glamor

Back in Switzerland, Torracinta began his professional life at the “Tribune de Genève”, where he had a brief but remarkable career. He then joined French-speaking Swiss Television. Aged 30, “classy, ​​glamorous, and with a certain impudence”, the journalist brings a breath of fresh air to a very rigid television industry, but with “crazy creativity”. “Toto” then worked with very promising young French-speaking directors, such as Alain Tanner, Claude Goretta and Michel Soutter.

On the screen, we discover relics of a bygone time: the first reports produced under Torracinta’s orders. Little jewels of nostalgia. Sex education class in a primary school, discussion around the female orgasm, coverage of the Vietnam War, program devoted to the derisory salaries of Geneva saleswomen… Audacious programs which will have shocked a Switzerland not yet quite ready to open up to very progressive values. “Torracinta shaped and modernized Switzerland by presenting very original subjects that people were not used to seeing,” believes the director.

Coda

The end of the film then looks at the best programs of “Toto” – “Temps Present”, “Table Ouverte” or even “Destin”, before focusing on his break with TSR, and concluding on his arrival at ‘General Hospice.

Claude Torracinta will have had the time to watch this documentary shortly before his death on May 24: “He was very moved and, in a way, relieved to see that something of his person was going to remain,” concludes Jacob Berger with sadness. The latter therefore signed a very beautiful tribute that we highly recommend.

Andrea Di Guardo has been a journalist at the Tribune de Genève since March 2024. Locally, he is also interested in cultural and international subjects. He holds a Master’s degree in journalism and communication and a Bachelor’s degree in political science.More info

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