If location truly was everything, the Taormina Film Festival would be the biggest in the world.
Here on “Isola bella” (Sicilian for “beautiful island”) you have it all: The sun, the sea and sunsets that look CGI-ed in their beauty (one of the reasons The White Lotus picked the region as a backdrop for its latest season). Above it all, the volcano, Mount Etna, with its bursts of fire and ash adds drama to the proceedings. The landscape is palm trees and prickly pear cacti and all the colors of the Mediterranean. The air smells of basil. The festival screenings take place in the Teatro Antico amphitheater, one of the largest historic Greek theaters in all of Sicily.
It’s easy to see why, back in 1955, organizers decided to set up a film festival here. First in the city of Messina, from 1957 on before moving to the nearby municipality of Taormina.
Here on “Isola bella” (Sicilian for “beautiful island”) you have it all: The sun, the sea and sunsets that look CGI-ed in their beauty (one of the reasons The White Lotus picked the region as a backdrop for its latest season). Above it all, the volcano, Mount Etna, with its bursts of fire and ash adds drama to the proceedings. The landscape is palm trees and prickly pear cacti and all the colors of the Mediterranean. The air smells of basil. The festival screenings take place in the Teatro Antico amphitheater, one of the largest historic Greek theaters in all of Sicily.
It’s easy to see why, back in 1955, organizers decided to set up a film festival here. First in the city of Messina, from 1957 on before moving to the nearby municipality of Taormina.
- 6/27/2023
- by Ilaria Ravarino
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The festival will run from June 26-July 2.
Matthew Gentile’s action thriller American Murderer, Cecilie McNair’s Danish psychological drama Baby Pyramid, and Italian titles Io E Spotty by Cosimo Gomez, and Andrea Brusa and Marco Scotuzzi’s Le Voci Sole, will all make their world premieres in competition at the Taormina Film Festival later this month in Italy.
They will be joined in competition by the Italian premieres of Philip Barantini’s Boiling Point, about life in a London restaurant kitchen on the busiest day of the year, and Australian director Leah Purcell’s western The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.
Matthew Gentile’s action thriller American Murderer, Cecilie McNair’s Danish psychological drama Baby Pyramid, and Italian titles Io E Spotty by Cosimo Gomez, and Andrea Brusa and Marco Scotuzzi’s Le Voci Sole, will all make their world premieres in competition at the Taormina Film Festival later this month in Italy.
They will be joined in competition by the Italian premieres of Philip Barantini’s Boiling Point, about life in a London restaurant kitchen on the busiest day of the year, and Australian director Leah Purcell’s western The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.
- 6/17/2022
- by Alina Trabattoni
- ScreenDaily
Francis Ford Coppola and 50th Anniversary ‘Godfather’ Edition to Open Italy’s Taormina Film Festival
The freshly restored 50th anniversary edition of “The Godfather,” with director Francis Ford Coppola in tow, is set to open Italy’s Taormina Film Festival on June 26.
Paramount’s latest restoration of what is arguably one of the greatest films of all time, conducted under Coppola’s watchful eye, will be kicking off the eastern Sicilian fest in its spectacular 8,000-seat ancient Greek theater in the shadow of the island’s active Mount Etna volcano.
The 50th edition of “The Godfather” was released in U.S. theaters in February to robust box office results and subsequently played in the Cannes Cinema de la Plage section, though Coppola wasn’t in attendance.
“Having the master Francis Ford Coppola inaugurate our 68th edition fills us with pride and joy,” reads a statement from Taormina’s trio of artistic directors, Francesco Alò, Alessandra De Luca and Federico Pontiggia.
“Attending the screening of ‘The Godfather...
Paramount’s latest restoration of what is arguably one of the greatest films of all time, conducted under Coppola’s watchful eye, will be kicking off the eastern Sicilian fest in its spectacular 8,000-seat ancient Greek theater in the shadow of the island’s active Mount Etna volcano.
The 50th edition of “The Godfather” was released in U.S. theaters in February to robust box office results and subsequently played in the Cannes Cinema de la Plage section, though Coppola wasn’t in attendance.
“Having the master Francis Ford Coppola inaugurate our 68th edition fills us with pride and joy,” reads a statement from Taormina’s trio of artistic directors, Francesco Alò, Alessandra De Luca and Federico Pontiggia.
“Attending the screening of ‘The Godfather...
- 6/6/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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