The 69th Taormina Film Festival boasts an impressive lineup of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Located in the historical Sicilian town – its visibility recently getting an unlooked for boost with the second season of HBO’s ”The White Lotus” – will be hosting a series of screenings. The outdoor Teatro Antico will provide a suitably antique background for the Italian premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” 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 receive its 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 with a U.S. Immigration...
The directorial debut of Italian artist Marco Perego, “The Absence of Eden,” will receive its 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 with a U.S. Immigration...
- 6/18/2023
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: In what will be her first film promotion appearance in a good long time, Amber Heard is set to appear at the 69th Taormina Film Festival for the world premiere of In The Fire. Heard will be in Sicily along with the film’s director Conor Allyn and co-star Eduardo Noriego. The film will premiere June 24 at the Teatro Antico di Taorina. The fest takes place June 23-July 1, 2023 in Sicily.
In the Fire is described as a supernatural thriller that stars Heard as a pioneering psychiatrist who sets out to treat a desperate child at a time when psychiatry is not yet a respected science. Set in 1899, the film follows a 38-year-old American psychiatrist as she arrives on a rich farm in Colombia after being called to solve the case of a disturbed child following increasingly insistent accusations that the child is the devil. While the woman tries to psychoanalyze the child,...
In the Fire is described as a supernatural thriller that stars Heard as a pioneering psychiatrist who sets out to treat a desperate child at a time when psychiatry is not yet a respected science. Set in 1899, the film follows a 38-year-old American psychiatrist as she arrives on a rich farm in Colombia after being called to solve the case of a disturbed child following increasingly insistent accusations that the child is the devil. While the woman tries to psychoanalyze the child,...
- 6/12/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish film director whose 'Iberian passion' trilogy began with Jamon Jamon
For 39 years, under General Francisco Franco's repressive regime, it was almost impossible for Spain to create a vibrant film industry and for talented film-makers to express themselves freely. However, after the death of the Generalissimo in 1975, there was a burst of creativity, with Pedro Almodóvar paving the way for directors such as Bigas Luna, who has died of cancer aged 67.
After some years as a conceptual artist who experimented with new audio-visual media, Luna became known internationally for his "Iberian passion" feature film trilogy: Jamon Jamon (1992), Golden Balls (1993) and The Tit and the Moon (1994), which explored the darkest depths of eroticism and stereotypical Spanish machismo. The first film introduced Penélope Cruz to audiences and launched Javier Bardem as the embodiment of the Spanish stud. "I owe my career to Bigas Luna," Bardem said in 2001.
In the trilogy, Luna,...
For 39 years, under General Francisco Franco's repressive regime, it was almost impossible for Spain to create a vibrant film industry and for talented film-makers to express themselves freely. However, after the death of the Generalissimo in 1975, there was a burst of creativity, with Pedro Almodóvar paving the way for directors such as Bigas Luna, who has died of cancer aged 67.
After some years as a conceptual artist who experimented with new audio-visual media, Luna became known internationally for his "Iberian passion" feature film trilogy: Jamon Jamon (1992), Golden Balls (1993) and The Tit and the Moon (1994), which explored the darkest depths of eroticism and stereotypical Spanish machismo. The first film introduced Penélope Cruz to audiences and launched Javier Bardem as the embodiment of the Spanish stud. "I owe my career to Bigas Luna," Bardem said in 2001.
In the trilogy, Luna,...
- 4/7/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Madrid — Spaniard Josep Joan Bigas Luna was lauded as a brilliant and "truly special" filmmaker a day after his death, with some of the highest praise coming from actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, two stars whose film careers he launched.
Bigas Luna, 67, died Saturday in northeast Spain after a long battle with cancer.
The filmmaker was regarded as having had an excellent eye for spotting talent and a knack for stimulating on-screen chemistry between actors. His 1992 film "Jamon, Jamon" received unanimous praise as "a classic" in the Spanish press on Sunday,
The director discovered Cruz and Bardem, who married in 2010, as well as a giving early boosts to a host of other now well-known film muses, including Leonor Watling, Angela Molina, Francesca Neri and Valeria Marini.
Many of the roles in his films were explosively steamy, even erotic. Yet they often explored with great insight aspects of modern Spain's quirkiness.
Bigas Luna, 67, died Saturday in northeast Spain after a long battle with cancer.
The filmmaker was regarded as having had an excellent eye for spotting talent and a knack for stimulating on-screen chemistry between actors. His 1992 film "Jamon, Jamon" received unanimous praise as "a classic" in the Spanish press on Sunday,
The director discovered Cruz and Bardem, who married in 2010, as well as a giving early boosts to a host of other now well-known film muses, including Leonor Watling, Angela Molina, Francesca Neri and Valeria Marini.
Many of the roles in his films were explosively steamy, even erotic. Yet they often explored with great insight aspects of modern Spain's quirkiness.
- 4/7/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
What did we spy on the red carpet on Day 9 of Tiff? Sparkle! Which brings us to a word about all that glitters, because it’s a slippery slope from awesome-looking to awful. Glitz is one of our most beloved accents, for sure, but it needs to be approached with caution and restraint. Sridevi Kapoor managed to do this, appearing at the English Vinglish in an outfit with just the right amount of shimmering details. At the other end of the spectrum Valeria Marini, attended the premiere of The Paperboy and illustrated the fact that just because a dress is drenched in sequins doesn’t mean it’s dazzling.
In fact, anyone covered in glitz needs to take a serious look at the fit of that frock to keep it from looking like a showgirl costume. Remember Olga Kurylenko’s beaded hit at the To The Wonder premiere earlier this week?...
In fact, anyone covered in glitz needs to take a serious look at the fit of that frock to keep it from looking like a showgirl costume. Remember Olga Kurylenko’s beaded hit at the To The Wonder premiere earlier this week?...
- 9/17/2012
- by Ingrie Williams
- Cineplex
Cassandra Gava attends I Want to Be a Soldier Madrid Photocall. Photo copyright Solarpix / PR Photos. Valeria Marini attends I Want to Be a Soldier Madrid Photocall. Photo copyright Solarpix / PR Photos. Danny Glover attends I Want to Be a Soldier Madrid Photocall. Photo copyright Solarpix / PR Photos. Fergus Riordan attends I Want to Be a Soldier Madrid Photocall. Photo copyright Solarpix / PR Photos. Danny Glover attends I Want to Be a Soldier Madrid Photocall. Photo copyright Solarpix / PR Photos. 10/19/2011 - Cassandra Gava - "I Want to Be a Soldier" Madrid Photocall - Me Hotel - Madrid, Spain © Solarpix / PR Photos 10/19/2011 - Robert Englund -...
- 10/21/2011
- by M&C
- Monsters and Critics
Although we've been covering Darren Lynn Bousman's 11-11-11 every step of the way - with details on the plot and casting news - we figured we'd reprint a press release recently tossed our way that sheds a bit more light on the production. Bousman is shooting in Barcelona, Spain with cast members Timothy Gibbs, Michael Landes, Wendy Glenn, Lluis Soler, Ángela Rosal, Brendan Price, Salomé Jimenez and Benjamin Cook. The new horror thriller by Darren Lynn Bouman (Saw II, III, IV), Canónigo Films, with the producers Ferran Monje, Christian Molina and Loris Curci; Wayne Allan Rice/Richard Heller-Eleven Eleven, and executive producers of Epic Pictures (Patrick Ewald, Shaked Berenson) and Valeria Marini, started shooting in Barcelona from the 17th of January 2011. It also counts with...
- 1/26/2011
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Who and What Were Up and Down on Last Weekend's Social Circuit Sharon Stone ↑ The sexy mood lighting on the Poltu Quatu Harbour Resort's pool deck, in Olbia, Italy, set the scene on Saturday for an elegant party packed with attractive Italian actors, filmmakers—and the Basic Instinct actress. Among those also in the crowd: multi-media artist Michele Civetta (who has directed videos for Lou Reed, Sparklehorse, and Yoko Ono) and his wife, Asia Argento, actresses Andrea Osvart and Elena Sofia Ricci, actor Pierfrancesco Favino, and Italy's most famous showgirl, Valeria Marini. Swag Suite Shoppers ↓ Just because the economy has tanked doesn't mean that it's O.K. to sell your soul by taking photographs in exchange for free loot. Among those spotted at the 36th annual Daytime Emmy Awards gifting lounge in Los Angeles were actresses Vanessa Williams and Susan Lucci and singer Tracy Chapman.
- 8/31/2009
- Vanity Fair
Rome -- Oscar-winning Italian film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori, who was released from legal custody Tuesday, on Friday proclaimed his innocence and attacked his critics and the Italian justice system as biased against him.
In a scathing 40-minute diatribe in his private cinema in Rome's Renaissance-era Palazzo Borghese, Cecchi Gori, 68, blasted the investigators making the legal case against him, lawyers, the media, and the criminal justice system.
"In Italy, it takes five minutes to be accused and five years to be proved innocent," he told a packed crowd of journalists.
Flanked by four of his attorneys and, briefly, by his off-again-on-again girlfriend, 41-year-old showgirl Valeria Marini, Cecchi Gori said he was more appreciated in the U.S. than in Italy, and said he is demonized in Italy because few in the country understand the creative process.
"Everyone on the street thinks they can make movies, and so they think people...
In a scathing 40-minute diatribe in his private cinema in Rome's Renaissance-era Palazzo Borghese, Cecchi Gori, 68, blasted the investigators making the legal case against him, lawyers, the media, and the criminal justice system.
"In Italy, it takes five minutes to be accused and five years to be proved innocent," he told a packed crowd of journalists.
Flanked by four of his attorneys and, briefly, by his off-again-on-again girlfriend, 41-year-old showgirl Valeria Marini, Cecchi Gori said he was more appreciated in the U.S. than in Italy, and said he is demonized in Italy because few in the country understand the creative process.
"Everyone on the street thinks they can make movies, and so they think people...
- 10/11/2008
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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