Taormina Film Festival 2008

The 54th Annual Taormina Film Festival (June 15-21) began with a press conference at which Deborah Young, former Tribeca Film Festival director now in her second year as director of Taormina, was lauded for taking the festival in a new direction. The festival has experienced an attendance downswing for quite a few years, but with the involvement of film students and contemporary Italian film stars, Young seeks to re-energize the festival. "The surprising result of finding some 25 percent of our films selected by the countries that produced them, as their Academy Award entries, is a strong confirmation we are on the right track in re-designing Taormina as a boutique festival," said Young.

Teatro Greco

Taormina Film Festival was held in the 2,500-year-old open-air Teatro Greco. Perched on a hill overlooking the Ionean Sea, Teatro Greco offers a magnificent view of Mount Etna. Depending on the ticket price, attendees had a choice of selecting the original stone seats or white plastic seats (most of which were reserved for VIPs and the media). The featured films were presented here each evening; films were also shown daily in the nearby Palazzo dei Congressi. The relaxed atmosphere set the stage for an interesting selection of films, many of which were from Turkey, the country showcased under this year's Mediterranean theme. 

The opening film, however, was a restored version of The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola, the relevant connection being that it was shot partly in Sicily. The three-time Oscar winning saga of the Corleone family, which features super star Marlon Brando and then-rising star Al Pacino, has been a staple on American TV for these thirty-plus years.

Angelique Brando with friend Max Drivin.

Featured on the opening program with The Godfather was Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit (1967), also restored. Italian actress Ornella Muti underwrote the restoration of Fellini's film as a way to give back to the industry. She called on other Italian actors to do likewise. 

Attendance at this long-standing festival has slipped in recent years, yet the town's magnetism is undeniable. In fact, most of the press in attendance were Italians who seemed to have come as much for Taormina, a popular vacation destination for many Europeans, as for the festival. Other attendees included more than 350 film students from the University of Palermo and University of Catania. They took advantage of the opportunity to attend master classes conducted by leaders in the film industry, including Anthony Lane, film critic for The New Yorker, and Giuseppe Fiorello, Italian TV and movie star whose most recent work is La Vita Rubata (The Stolen Life).

A snapshot of the films featured demonstrate the festival's international flavor:

Geraldo Olivades' 14 Kilometros (the title references the distance between the African coast and a southern port in Spain) portrays the immigration problem facing all of Europe, as Africans seek better lives for themselves and their families.

Babam Ve Oglum (My Father, My Son), by Cagan Irmak of Turkey, depicts the prodigal son, now widowed, who faces hard feelings and long-held grudges when he returns to his home village in Anatolya near Izmir with his young son.

Yumurta (The Egg), by Semih Kaplanoglu of Turkey, is a slow-moving story of a young man who must temporarily leave his bookstore in Istanbul and return to his village in Anatolya to deal with his mother's burial. There he encounters a young woman (distant relative) who has cared for his mother during her final days. A relationship develops as she encourages him to fulfill his mother's dying wishes.
 
In the only French selection, Deux Jours a Tuer (Love Me No More), a young man leaves his family in Paris, France, without telling them his is dying. Before he dies, he wants to reconnect with his father, whom he eventually finds in Ireland.

In the Irish film Kings, director Tom Collins uses caustic black humor to depict the harsh lives of men forced to immigrate to England from Ireland's Dublin Bay in hopes of making their fortunes and returning home.

Lucia Puenzo's film debut XXY, from Argentina, recounts a drama involving hermaphroditism.

The Puerto Rican Maldeamores, a comic-romantic weaving together of the lives and loves of its characters, is directed by Carlos Ruiz and Mariem Pereira and produced by Benicio Del Toro.

Italy's 2008 Oscar candidate La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (of Cinema Paradiso fame), is a mystery about a Ukrainian woman who takes a job as maid and nanny in a small Italian town.

The festival's Audience Award went to Warden of the Dead (Bulgaria) directed by Ilian Simeonov, a surreal story about a teenage boy who guards a cemetery.

Special Prize of the Jury was awarded to Summer Book by Seyfi Teoman (Turkey). Best Performance went to Tanja Ribic for Tractor, Love and Rock N' Roll by Branko Djuric (Slovenia). Eye of the Sun (Egypt), by Ibrahim El Batout, captured the Golden Tauro Award. The N.I.C.E. (New Italian Cinema Events) Intel Centrino Award, for the best Sicilian short film, was presented to Bab Al Samah (The Door of Forgiveness) by Francesco Sperandeo.