Placido Domingo and Vittorio Grigolo Headline Pavarotti Forever Benefit at 69th Taormina Film Festival
Key Highlights :
The 69th edition of the Taormina Film Festival in Italy is kicking off this evening with a Pavarotti Forever benefit event headlined by Placido Domingo and Vittorio Grigolo. The event, which is taking place at the landmark Teatro Antico amphitheatre, is not the typical opening for a film festival but it is in keeping with the eclectic programming of incoming artistic director Barrett Wissman. The festival is looking to raise its local and international profile after a turbulent decade, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny will have its Italian premiere over the first weekend, with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen in attendance. The premiere marks the first time a major Disney production has touched down at the festival since Inside Out in 2015.
A handful of U.S. indie shorts and features will also be premiering, kicking off with Conor Allyn’s supernatural thriller In The Fire, accompanied by the director, star Amber Heard, and co-stars Eduardo Noriega and Luca Calvani. Italian artist Marco Perego’s debut feature The Absence of Eden will also have its world premiere, with Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona in attendance.
An innovative event entitled Influential Shorts, curated by Bella Thorne, will also take place. It will feature the world premiere of Thorne’s own short debut Paint Her Red, as well as the European premiere of Eva Vik’s futuristic film Serpentine, starring supermodel Barbara Palvin. Supermodel Adriana Lima will also be putting in a appearance with FIFA: A Love Letter to Rwanda by Craig Goodwill, in which she appears and executive produced. FIFA president Gianni Infantino will also be a guest.
Sundance 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner A Thousand And One will make its European premiere, accompanied by director A.V. Rockwell and star Teyana Taylor. A second Sundance title, Eddie Alcazar’s psychedelic sci-fi thriller Divinity, will also get its European premiere with the director, Thorne, Karrueche Tran and Moises Arias in attendance.
William Baldwin is expected at the festival for the world premiere of hybrid family movie Billie’s Magic World by Italian director Francesco Cinquemani. Alec Baldwin, who also features in the cast is not expected in town.
A raft of young acting talents and influencers will walk the red carpet at the Teatro Antico for the Influential Shorts event, as well as a trio of Italian comedies with starry casts and strong local appeal.
The closing weekend of the festival will host Cannes opening film Jeanne du Barry, accompanied by French director and lead actress Maïwenn, but without her co-star Johnny Depp, as well as a screening of Roberto Andò’s Strangeness, starring Toni Servillo, Valentino Picone, and Salvatore Ficarra.
The closing night will also feature a special celebration of Italy’s Nastri D’Argento Awards, which Wissman hopes will return to Taormina in the future. Other highlights include a retrospective devoted to Abel Ferrara, looking at his long collaboration and friendship with Willem Dafoe through a joint masterclass and screenings of films such as Pasolini, Siberia, 4:44 Last Day On Earth and Tommaso.
John Landis will also be in town to give a masterclass entitled Comedy in Film, and the program will feature a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. showing 20 of its iconic films across the week.
The Taormina Film Festival runs June 23 to July 1 and promises to be an exciting and eclectic edition with something for everyone.
