Taormina Film Festival seeks to return to center stage

The 69th Taormina Film Festival offers an impressive line-up of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Set in the historic Sicilian town - its visibility recently received an unexpected boost with the second season of HBO's "The White Lotus" - will host a series of screenings. The open-air Teatro Antico will provide a suitably antique backdrop for the Italian premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate," with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies and Mads Mikkelsen in attendance.

The directorial debut of Italian artist Marco Perego, "The Absence of Eden", will be presented in world premiere. The film stars Perego's wife, Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona. The thriller tells the story of an undocumented immigrant fleeing a drug cartel whose path crosses paths with a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in crisis over the moral dilemmas of his job. An unlikely alliance forms as the two attempt to save a young girl's life.

Also getting a world premiere is the supernatural period thriller "In the Fire," directed by Conor Allyn, previously known for the Frank Grillo western "No Man's Land". The film sees the return to the screen of Amber Heard. She plays a psychiatrist at the end of the 19th century, called to investigate the case of a young boy accused of demonic possession. Back in the horror genre with which she first made a name for herself, she's no doubt hoping for a similar reset to the one her ex-husband Johnny Depp aimed for with his recent appearance in the Cannes opener "Jeanne Du Barry", which will also have its first Italian screening at the festival. Its director Maïwenn - herself accustomed to controversy - will be present, even if we do not think that Depp will be present.

Another controversial film will be Francesco Cinquemani's "Billie's Magic World", which stars Alec and William Baldwin with Valeria Marini, Mia McGovern Zaini, Soraya Azzabi and Elva Trill. The children's film is a big-screen outing for the TV series' "Puffins," who seek to rescue a young girl, lured into a castle by a pair of villains played by Alec Baldwin and Marini.

Following Sundance, Eddie Alcazar's sci-fi thriller "Divinity" gets an international premiere . The film features the invention of a serum that can stop aging and stars Stephen Dorff, Scott Bakula and Bella Thorne. Thorne will also be at the festival, curating a selection of shorts titled Influential Shorts and featuring a selection of films from celebrities and influencers such as Khabbaz Kamal and Eva Vik, including Thorne's debut short 'Paint Her Red'. /p >

Two Italian films that will have their world premiere will be the Italian comedy "The Worst Days", directed by Edoardo Leo and Massimiliano Bruno and featuring a host of familiar faces from the Italian comedy scene, and veteran Italian director Giorgio Amato's "Lo Sposo Indeciso", starring Gianmarco Tognazzi, Ilenia Pastorelli, Stefano Pesce, Francesco Pannofino, Ornella Muti , Claudia Gerini and Giorgio Colangeli.

Two retrospectives are also scheduled. John Landis has selected a number of his own films along with a selection of films by his contemporaries to give a history of Hollywood comedy. He will also give presentations and masterclasses throughout the festival. Willem Dafoe and Abel Ferrara's long collaboration and friendship is the subject of another retrospective, and will feature screenings of their work together from 1998's 'New Rose Hotel' to their latest film 'Sportin' Life' , released in 2020. These retrospectives will be joined by a celebration of the 90th anniversary of Warner Bros. with a program of 25 films and a special screening of a documentary about the legendary studio.

The festival opens with the Pavarotti Forever Opening Gala, which will feature a selection of footage from concerts and documentaries with guests from the world of pop and opera. Proceeds will go to the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation.

Barrett Wissman,