THE TAORMINA FILM FEST IN PICTURES

TAORMINA, SICILY - JUNE 15 – 21, 2008

The Greek Theater outlined against the sea and smoking Mount Etna.

A good place to hold a film festival.

• The main competition is Mediterranea, featuring just seven highly selected premiers

• World cinema will be on view with seven new titles in a section called “Beyond the Mediterranean”

• Every evening the city’s spectacular 5,000-seat Greek Theater will come to life with red carpetpremieres, surprise events and special viewings of films on one of the largest screens in Europe.

2,300 years ago the Greeks constructed this magnificent outdoor theatre in Sicily, on a mountain-top dropping into the Mediterranean sea.

It is still in use today. Its natural acoustics have never been bettered. It seats 5,000.

The screen in the Greek Theater is one of the biggest in Europe.

Its Greek builders constructed it as a window on the Taormina gulf.

The festival social hour begins every evening at 7:30 with a cocktail on the terrace of the Timeo hotel. The backdrop: Mount Etna and the Mediterranean sea.

The creme de la creme of Italy’s film industry can be found every night in Taormina’s Greek Theater. Dress code: casual chic, Italian style.

Photo call for Eric Bana, Curtis Hanson and Robert Duvall

Photo call for director Andre Techineand his actor Lorenzo Balducci

Photo call for James Franco

Photo call for Goran Paskaljevic

Taormina’s guestsfor the 53rd edition of 2007

Taormina’s guestsfor the 53rd edition of 2007

Photo call for the cast of “l’uomo di vetro”

Photo call for director of Taormina film festDeborah Young and Giuseppe Tornatore

Matt Dillon’s Master Class

“ Maldeamores” press conference with directorsCarlitos Ruiz Ruiz and Mariem Pereira

Taormina’s guestsfor the 53rd edition of 2007

Photo call for Taormina’s hostLorena Bianchetti

Photo call for english Director Terence Davies

Beppe Fiorello and Leo Gullotta

Deborah Young and Franco Battiato

The festival is closely followed by the international pressPhoto call for Jane Campion.

Taormina Arte Awards 2007

Michael BayBeppe Fiorello and

Giuseppe Tornatore

Terence Davies André Techiné

Giancarlo Giannini and Hend Sabry

Youssra and Pippo Franco Matt Dillon and Soheir Abdel- Kader

Margherita Buy and Silvio Orlando

Hannah Schygulla

Past recipients, besides Weir and Dench, include AntonioBanderas, Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Melanie Griffith, Victoria Abril, Malcolm McDowell, Irene Papas, Bob Rafaelson, Margarethe Von Trotta, Mira Sorvino, Francesco Rosi, Marisa Paredes, Nino Manfredi, Miklos Jancso, Joel Schumacher, Robert Duvall, Jane Campion, Ennio Morricone, Isabelle Huppert, Hugh Grant, Willem Dafoe, StefaniaSandrelli, Mike Leigh, Laura Morante, Greta Scacchi, EttoreScola, Vittorio Storaro, Alberto Sordi, Gillo Pontecorvo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Giancarlo Giannini, Gina Lollobrigida, Liam Neeson, Tonino Guerra, Norman Jewison, Claudia Cardinale, Michelangelo Antonioni and Giuseppe Tornatore

Peter Weir presents the Taormina Arte Award to Dame Judi Dench on stage at the Greek theater.

The great comic actor Nino Manfredihad a passion for Taormina and the sea.

Antonio Banderas

Tom Cruise chose Taormina for the European launch of his production M:I-2. He received the Taormina Arte Award one unforgettable evening in 2000, which happened to be his birthday.

Transformers Premiere Taormina June 22, 2007

Michael Bay Shia LeBeouf

Virginie Vassart, Michael Bay, Shia LeBeouf, Lorenzo Bonaventura and Luca Vasile

Anna Magnanithe mythic actress who made post-war Italian cinema

famous.

Taormina after dark – particularly expressive when Mt. Etna is in eruption and hot red lava outlines the volcano, as it did during the screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now Redux.