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FESTIVALS / AWARDS Italy

Female talent and Academy Awards to take centre stage at Taormina Film Fest

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- The festival’s 68th edition will unspool 26 June – 2 July in the Sicilian city, with six international films in competition, premieres and restored movies on the agenda

Female talent and Academy Awards to take centre stage at Taormina Film Fest
Eva Longoria in an episode of the omnibus film Tell It Like a Woman

Female talent and Academy Awards are the bywords of the 68th Taormina Film Fest, which will unspool 26 June – 2 July in the Sicilian city’s Teatro Antico, directed for the second year running by Francesco Alò, Alessandra De Luca and Federico Pontiggia. An edition organised in collaboration with the European Commission’s representatives in Italy, the festival is set to open with a screening of a restored version of The Godfather in the presence of Francis Ford Coppola, and eventually close with Giuseppe Tornatore’s Ennio [+see also:
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]
, which is the filmmaker’s poignant tribute to the much loved Italian composer Morricone.

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Female talent is set to be celebrated by way of Tell it Like a Woman, a collective film composed of seven shorts directed by Maria Sole Tognazzi, Lucia Puenzo, Catherine Hardwicke, Taraji P. Henson, Leena Yadav, Mipo O, Silvia Carobbio and Lucia Bulgheroni, and starring Jennifer Hudson, Cara Delevingne, Margherita Buy, Marcia Gay Arden, Leonor Varela, Jacqueline Fernandez, Ann Watanabe and Eva Longoria, among other names, the latter toplining an episode shot in Italy and accompanying the film to the festival.

Dedicated to first and second works, the international competition consists of six titles, including Brit flick Boiling Point [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Barantini
film profile
]
, which is actor Philip Barantini’s directorial debut, transporting us into a frenetic restaurant kitchen on the most challenging day of the year; Baby Pyramid, Danish director Cecilie McNair’s debut film which is a psychological drama on the theme of fertility; two Italian titles: Le voci sole by Andrea Brusa and Marco Scotuzzi, reflecting upon the collateral effects of social media (and due for cinema release on 4, 5 and 6 July), and Spotty & Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, which is Cosimo Gomez’s second movie (hitting cinemas on 7 July), starring Filippo Scotti (rewarded in Venice for his performance in Hand of God [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
). The section is rounded off by the action thriller based on a true story American Murderer, by New York director Matthew Gentile, and the western The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which is written and directed by the Australian talent of Aboriginal origins Leah Purcel, who also stars in the cast.

Also in the offing is a world premiere of Italia 1982, una storia azzurra, a documentary directed by Coralla Ciccolini celebrating the 40-year anniversary of Italy’s epic victory during the World Cup in Spain and homing in on some of the footballers who spearheaded that unexpected triumph, who are scheduled to take to the stage in the Teatro Antico in order to share their memories with audiences (the film will be released in Italian cinemas on 11 July). Space will likewise be made for animation in the form of Minions 2 – The Rise of Gru by Kyle Balda (in cinemas from 18 July), and mention should also be made of the premieres gracing the agenda, namely for La mia ombra è tua [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Eugenio Cappuccio, which is based on Edoardo Nesi’s Strega Prize-winning novel, charting a journey towards an unresolved love affair and starring Marco Giallini, Giuseppe Maggio and Isabella Ferrari (in cinemas from 29 June); A Breath of Fresh Air [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Alessio Lauria, which tells a bittersweet story of an unusual journey through Sicily, teaching us that it’s never too late to grow up, and starring Aldo Baglio, Lucia Ocone and Ludovica Martino (released on 7 July); and Marco Spagnoli’s documentary La voce del padrone, which is dedicated to the great singer from Catania who left us last year, Franco Battiato.

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(Translated from Italian)

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