Tiziana Rocca and the Taormina Film Festival: “We make the art of cinema closer to the public, revealing its secrets”
The Taormina Film Festival will take place from June 10 to 14.
The last edition of the Taormina Film Festival marked a public success, filling the seats of the Ancient Theatre with the participation of highly prestigious figures and live performances. According to director Tiziana Rocca, the 72nd Taormina Film Festival, which runs from today until June 14, will feature the same successful formula. Helen Mirren will be the guest of honor at the 2026 edition. The actress will be awarded the Taormina Film Festival Achievement Award, on the occasion of a special evening dedicated to the unforgettable Anna Magnani: “Symbol of authenticity and expressive force in the history of Italian and international cinema – states Rocca – two women so distant in eras and cultures but representative of a uniqueness that unites them. Conferring the lifetime achievement award to her in an evening that will be dedicated to Anna Magnani represents an ideal bridge between two icons of cinema, united by a unique interpretive force and by a rare capacity to move the public. They have the same charisma, and the empathy that allows the public to identify with their characters”.
On June 12, at the Ancient Theatre, the restored version of the movie Bellissima will be screened, performed by Anna Magnani in 1959, directed by Luchino Visconti. The movie expresses with charismatic force the expectations of a mother intent on getting her barely five-year-old daughter into the world of entertainment, only to then realize her own mistakes. A movie that celebrates Magnani’s performance with a screening in the scenography of a theatre built in 300 BC.
The search for movies in competition has allowed the inclusion of feature movies that know how to tell reality in an original manner, projecting onto the screen the doubts and questions of contemporaneity. The first announced movie, which will be presented in absolute preview as a special event at the Ancient Theatre, is Bear Country by Derrick Borte. The movie stars Russell Crowe, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer together with Nina Dobrev. In the Out of Competition section,The Struggle for Mother Water by Michael Zelniker will be presented, a documentary series that explores the numerous worrying aspects of the global water crisis and illustrates how women around the world are conducting a determined fight and have become a source of inspiration to protect and defend water. Among the guest, Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Connie Nielsen, the cast of Tv series House of the Dragon, Toby Jones, Gore Verbinski, Giuseppe Tornatore.
The jury of the 2026 edition will be composed of cinema celebrities such as Holly Hunter, Oscar winner in The Piano; Miyako Bellizzi, Oscar-nominated costume designer; Francine Maisler, among the most influential casting directors in Hollywood; Akinola Davies Jr.: British-Nigerian moviemaker; Sue Kroll: Head of Global Marketing, Film, Series and Brand at Amazon MGM Studios; Pietro Castellitto.
The Taormina Film Festival will represent the soul of a unique scenario, divided between earth, fire and sea, and will continue in its revival of international guests as it has been throughout its prestigious history. Last year among the guests were Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde, Catherine Deneuve, and in decades past personalities such as Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, Sophia Loren, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Tom Cruise have walked the Ancient Theatre of Taormina. Even in its internationality, symbol of a passionate prestige, it expresses a rare intimacy allowing the public in the hall to converse with actors and directors, pose questions and receive answers. As in the intentions of director Tiziana Rocca: “What I wanted to do – and what we will propose again this year – is make the art of cinema closer to the public, revealing its secrets”.
