Last year, Italian marketing guru Tiziana Rocca returned to the post of artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival eight years after she was forced to step down due to political infighting following a successful five-year stint. The festivals specialist, who nurtures close ties to Hollywood, revived Taormina’s competitive strands and brought major names such as Martin Scorsese to speak at the festival in her return year.
This year’s edition is set to be another starry one, with major names such as Helen Mirren, Russell Crowe, Clive Owen, Jane Campion and Scott Eastwood set to land in the Sicilian town next week. Speaking with Variety amidst preparations for the upcoming event, Rocca says her priority is to build a festival that “feels like it is for everybody.”
“We have this incredible Greek theater with so much history that is a spectacular venue for 6,000 people,” she adds of the festival home, an imposing auditorium carved into a Sicilian hillside above the Ionian Sea. “But to fill this theater, we need to make sure that the program is very popular. This year, we have films from all over the world, and we want to have lots and lots of young people in the theater every evening. This festival energy is very important.”
Festival highlights this year include HBO’s “House of Dragon,” which will open the festival and the world premiere of Derrick Borte’s “Bear Country,” starring Crowe. The competitive strand will gather Berlin standouts such as Gore Verbinski’s “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” Ashley Walters’ “Animol” and Mahnaz Mohammadi’s “Roya,” as well as recent Cannes breakouts such as Rafiki Fariala’s “Congo Boy.”
“When the theater is full, and people are watching something together, it is a very emotional experience,” adds Rocca, who says one of her key missions with the festival is to keep ticket prices low so local families can attend screenings and events. “I respect the public, the city, and I know sometimes there is a lot of sacrifice involved in people coming to the festival. I want everybody to feel they have a chance to participate in the festival.”
Having major Italian and international talent available to the public is another priority of Rocca’s, who states one of her “great joys” as an artistic director is being able to facilitate learning opportunities for budding filmmakers and young students.
“I always try to get actors and directors to come, experience Taormina, and to be generous on the red carpet,” she continues. “I tell them: take the pictures, sign all the signs. Last year, we brought Martin Scorsese, who was supposed to give a 30-minute masterclass but spoke for an hour and a half with our students. He is so generous to the younger generations. He told them: ‘Don’t lose hope, follow your dreams.’”
Rocca says budding filmmakers are living through “difficult times” when there is a “loss of hope” that one can make it in an industry that feels like it is always inching close to crisis. “Young people in film have lost a bit of hope. For this reason, I think it’s important for young students to hear from those who have made it and for them to hear that it was difficult for them at the start, too.”
Tiziana Rocca and Michael Douglas at the Taormina Film Festival, courtesy of Taormina Film Festival
The artistic director is categorical in saying she wants Taormina to be “a human festival.” “I don’t like artificial intelligence. It cannot substitute anyone. All it can do is copy; it can’t create. For this reason, it’s very important to have a human factor to the festival, for it to be about people talking to each other. I try to avoid social media, I tell students to get off social media, to leave their phones in their pocket when they come to the festival.”
Asked about opening this year’s festival with the Italian premiere of the first episode of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” Season 3, Rocca says it feels “natural” to screen series at the festival. “When HBO proposed that we screen the series, I felt we were the perfect place for it. Our beautiful theater is the perfect venue for all things spectacular, and ‘House of the Dragon’ is spectacular.” Stars set to attend the opening night gala at Taormina’s Greek amphitheater include Steve Toussaint (Lord Corlys Velaryon), Harry Collett (Jacaerys Velaryon), Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen) and Phoebe Campbell (Rhaena Targaryen).
As for the industry side of the affair, Rocca says it all boils down to Taormina as a meeting place. “I want the festival to be a place where people can meet, where they can talk about creativity,” she adds. “These encounters may lead to people working together. It has happened a lot in the past. We’re a festival everyone loves: the public, the industry, there’s a place for everyone. It’s an inclusive festival. For real people.”
Lastly, Rocca says the festival is key to the local economy of the Sicilian region: “The festival is very important for the industry but also for the region because it brings a lot of tourists. When we have the festival, everything is fully booked. No hotel room remains, restaurants are full, it is an event of true economic value.”
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