Pamela Anderson to Receive Torino’s Stella della Mole Award

By Tom Whitfield

Pamela Anderson will receive the lifetime-achievement Stella della Mole Award at the 44th edition of the Torino Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 24 to Dec. 2 in Turin, Italy, according to the festival.

The festival, run by Italy’s National Film Museum and described in the announcement as a preeminent event for young directors and independent cinema, has Anderson holding an onstage conversation before introducing a special screening of Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl.

The festival announcement notes that the film earned Anderson a 2025 Golden Globes nomination for her performance. It frames that recognition and her Torino appearance as a major comeback for the former Baywatch star. The announcement gives no exact screening date, ticket details or full programme.

Torino Film Festival artistic director Giulio Base said in a statement: “Movies can sometimes work wonders, like making us [really] meet for the first time someone we’ve known all our lives,” and added: “With ‘The Last Showgirl,’ Pamela Anderson gave us this experience.”

“We thought we knew everything about her, but in this film every gesture of hers revealed a sensitivity as a performer that is both moving and surprising,” Base continued.

The comments make a case for Anderson as a performer, but they do not explain the selection process or set out the award’s criteria. The award’s previous recipients include Spike Lee, Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone, according to the festival.

Around that comeback, the announcement lists Anderson’s recent work. After The Last Showgirl, she starred alongside Liam Neeson in Paramount’s reboot of The Naked Gun. She also appeared in Karim Aïnouz’s Berlin-premiering family satire Rosebush Pruning, with Riley Keough, Callum Turner, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Lucas Gage and Tracy Letts.

At the Venice Film Festival in September, Anderson appeared in Kornél Mundruczó’s road movie Place to Be. The festival announcement names Ellen Burstyn, Taika Waititi and Murray Bartlett as her co-stars.

Three more projects are complete, according to the announcement, though no release date is given:

• Somedays, by Brian Klugman, with Billy Bob Thornton.
• Love Is Not the Answer, Michael Cera’s directorial debut and an absurdist comedy, with Steve Coogan and Jamie Dornan.
• Alma, by Sally Potter, alongside Richard E. Grant.

What does the award change for Anderson and audiences?

For Anderson, the immediate change is a formal lifetime-achievement distinction from a festival run by Italy’s National Film Museum, along with a public conversation in Turin. For audiences, it offers one programmed film and an onstage exchange; no ticket details or full programme are supplied.

The award recognizes a career turn, but it does not forecast which upcoming film will define her next phase. The test is whether Torino follows through with its programme and whether Anderson’s three completed films find audiences. Base praised a performer’s sensitivity; the films, not the trophy, will show whether that change lasts.