The Festival is now in its 71st edition and is directed by Tiziana Rocca.
The Taormina Film Festival reaches its second day. The Festival take place from June 10 to 14 in Taormina – Sicily. Today’s guests include actor Geoffrey Rush, Oscar winner for Shine; actress Helen Hunt, Oscar winner for As Good as It Gets; director Martin Scorsese, Oscar winner for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Artistic Director of the Taormina Film Festival, the first among European women to hold such a prestigious position directing one of the world’s most renowned cinematic events, Tiziana Rocca boasts years of experience in event organization, loves taking on difficult challenges and transforming them into winning productions. She possesses comprehensive experience in the film world, which has allowed her to develop fundamental skills and relationships. Experiences such as organizing Filming Italy Sardegna have given her such mastery of the film industry that she created the opportunity to invite—for the next edition of the Taormina Film Festival—directors like Martin Scorsese, Oscar-winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Michael Douglas, Monica Bellucci, Catherine Deneuve, Olivia Wilde, and Rupert Everett.
With Filming Italy Sardegna – which will be held for the eighth time at the end of June in Cagliari – Tiziana Rocca sought to support cinema in theaters during the summer season, thanks also to the initiative of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cinecittà, Anec, and Cinema Revolution. The result has been to establish Filming Italy Sardegna as a reference point for promoting audiovisual products, in addition to involving many young people by bringing them closer to the world of cinema and granting the Festival international visibility. Meanwhile, Filming Italy Los Angeles celebrated its tenth edition this year, creating over the years a bridge between Italy and the United States for countless authors, directors, and actors.
Tiziana Rocca is not only the first European woman to hold such an important position as the direction of Taormina, which has seen over the years the presence of personalities like Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, Sophia Loren, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Tom Cruise, but she is also a determined woman who has established herself as a professional in a world of men and, as a woman, has always supported other women working in the film industry.
Of the Taormina Film Festival she says: “It is a festival that feels an atavistic attachment to its land because the location is unique. The Ancient Theatre is not just a physical stage, but one of the soul!” At Taormina, one can watch films in the Greek Theatre built in the year 300 AD, lapped by the sea, with the peak of Mount Etna in the background. A suggestive and unique setting in the world.
Dynamic and perfectionist, Tiziana Rocca encourages other women to overcome the difficulties of their condition to establish themselves not only as professionals but primarily as women and to bear witness to their artistic convictions, just as she does every day by overcoming unforeseen circumstances and organizational difficulties in order to achieve the goal of reinstating Taormina among the most important festivals at an international level, as it was in the past.
