The world premiere of Mitzi Peirone’s horror film “Santa Clara” will open the Taormina Film Festival, which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary. Don Roff’s novel The Difference stars Bella Thorne, Ryan Phillippe, Frank Whaley and Rebecca De Mornay. It is the first of four world premieres to be shown at the Sicilian city’s open-air Teatro Antico, which faces Mount Etna, an active volcano, to the west.
Lee Isaac Chung’s highly anticipated remake/sequel “Twisters,” distributed by Warner Bros. in Italy, is coming to town for its native debut. Starring “Regular People”’s Daisy Edgar Jones and “Hitman” star Glen Powell, the “Minari” director’s film is a reimagining of Jan de Bont’s mid-’90s classic, with a James-style title. Cameron promising to multiply the chaos.
Marco Mueller, who took over as creative director of the competition (see the interview), commented that one of the many world premieres, “Mom Stone”, is a film made by a pair of volcanologists turned filmmakers, Daniele Greco and Mauro Maugeri. “If we can get them to pump up Etna, maybe a little fire, I’m sure Warner Bros. will need to come to Taormina annually if we can manage it”, he joked.
Nicolas Cage delivers the latest chapter in his long retirement from film acting with a classic Cage performance in Lorcan Finnegan’s surreal comedy-drama “The Surfer,” which premiered at Cannes in May.
Shifting dramatically from his Idris-Elba-fights-a-lion film, “Beast,” Baltasar Kormákur’s adaptation of Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s best-selling Icelandic novel, “Contact,” is considered one of three films that Mueller described as comedies romantic anti-romantic.
The other two are Italian films: “L’invenzione di Noi Due”, by Corrado Ceron, with Lino Guanciale, Silvia D’Amico and Paolo Rossi, and the closing film “Finché Notte Non Ci Separi”, by Riccardo Antonaroli, starring by Pilar Fogliati, Filippo Scicchitano and Valeria Bilello. Italian comedy stars Christian De Sica and Carlo Verdone will also receive Silver Ribbon awards for their careers.
A section of this system will also be dedicated to Sicilian filmmakers and will feature five world premieres and showcase a variety of genres and themes. In addition to the modern Sicilian scene, there will also be a retrospective of restored prints, along with one of the first documentaries by Oscar-winning “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” director Giuseppe Tornatore: “Diary of Guttuso,” a 1982 portrait of Sicilian painter and politician Renato Guttuso. Valeria Golino will also screen the film version of her episodic drama “The Art of Pleasure,” starring Jasmine Trinca.
Marco Muller
Courtesy of Taormina Movie Pageant
The political turmoil of the current global situation may seem a world away from the Sicilian town, which got a boost in its tourism business during Season 2 of “The White Lotus” in 2022. But Mueller said Selection that the competition “will not shy away from the modern contradictions of the world.” Within the Mediterranean Focus program, “From Floor Zero,” a collective film produced by Rashid Masharawi, brings together the work of 22 Palestinian filmmakers to document life in Gaza during the war. Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai will present “Shikun,” which first screened at the Berlinale in February this year.
A new 4K restoration of Peter Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” which won the Charybdis Award in 1976, will also be shown as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations.
After several years of political uncertainty, it seems that Mueller’s imaginative vision and experience are exactly what the Sicilian competition wanted, taking it into the future with its championing of younger filmmakers, while still maintaining its traditional Mediterranean identity.
The competition will take place from July 12th to 19th.
Opposite Taormina harnesses the energy of Hollywood, impartial cinema first appeared on All celebrities.