Troy L. Milliron 
A slew of top directors, producers and stars are set to make their way to the fifth edition of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, which combines film and television and steps up to serve as a collective celebration of Italian industry. and global. reboot spirit.
As Italian box office returns plummet due to audiences’ aversion to wearing a mask in theaters, Tiziana Rocca, leader of this unique event, is adding an outdoor venue with a giant screen to its hub main, the seaside resort of Forte Village near Cagliari, capital of the emerald island of Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian).
“Seeing movies outdoors is a different thrill, especially for young audiences who are rebelling against mandatory face masks in movie theaters,” Rocca says.
As a result, the June 9-12 festival will open with the Italian premiere of Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion” at its new Piazza Forte outdoor cinema.
As for other film offerings, American actor Jeremy Piven will be on hand for the Italian launch of the Daniel Adams-directed drama “The Walk,” which is based on true events during the 1974 desegregation bus crisis in Boston. ; Netflix premieres its Italian original, the Florence romantic comedy “Love & Gelato,” based on the bestselling novel by Jenna Evans Welch; and Italian actress Claudia Gerini will promote her debut film, the comedy “Tapirulàn,” about a therapist who conducts online sessions with her clients while she works out on a treadmill.
On the television side, Italian pub broadcaster RAI will be churning out the final season of its long-running soap opera ‘Ladies’ Paradise’, which is set in 1950s Milan and centers on a luxury department store. clothing, as well as her program ‘Non Mi Lasciare’, about the female head of a special Italian police unit tasked with combating online child pornography. Comcast-owned Sky paybox will be on hand to promote ‘The Team’ sports documentary series, which reconstructs the complex and comedic dynamics behind the Italian tennis team that won the 1976 Davis Cup and reached the final of the trophy three more times between 1976 and 1980.
Rocca, who is a former head of the Taormina Film Festival, launched this new festival concept four years ago with a strong focus on women in business – reflecting the fact that she herself is a rare case. as a festival director.
She’s particularly proud of this year’s high-caliber guest list, starting with Oscar-winning producer, director and actress Regina King, who is expected to be on hand to receive the festival’s Women Power Award.
Another Oscar-winning multi-hyphen, Julie Taymor – who in 1998 became the first woman to win the Tony for direction in a musical for her Broadway production of ‘The Lion King’ – is being celebrated with an award career and a mini-retro including her first film, “Titus”, and the Beatles musical jukebox “Across the Universe”.
On the industry side, former Warner Bros. global marketing executive Sue Kroll, now a producer, comes to Sardinia to chat with film students about the workings of film promotion. She will be interviewed by the former Warner Bros. executive. Italy, Nicola Maccanico, who is currently leading the redesign of the famous Cinecittà studios in Rome, in the form of a masterclass.
Another industry panel will focus on the critical need for Italy to make bigger budget products, hosted by Simone Gialdini, Head of Italian Exhibitors Association ANEC, with a plethora of senior industry executives Italian.
‘Pearl Harbor’ and ‘Penny Dreadful’ star Josh Hartnett will chair a jury that will select the best student film short on the hot topic of peace and democracy. Other notables expected on the island include “Black Panther” star Winston Duke, Billy Burke (“Twilight”), Rossy de Palma (“Women on the Edge of Breakdown”), Bollywood veteran Kabir Bedi, the Turkish star Can Yaman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Naomie Harris and Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux.
