55th Taormina Film Fest

The fest will run from June 13 to 20 in Sicily and here are the films in the two main competitions.

Mediterranea Competition – Golden Tauro

Al Lail Altawed (The Long Night), Hatem Ali, Syria,2009
Camino, Javier Fesser, Spain, 2008
Casanegra, Nour- Eddine Lakhmari, Morocco, 2008
Gölger (The Shadowless), Ümit Ünal, Turkey, 2009
Khaltet Fawzia (Fawzya a Special Blend), Magdy Ahmed Aly, Egypt, 2008
La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train),André Téchiné, France, 2009
Zrubavel, Shmuel Beru, Israel, 2009

International Jury: Laurent Cantet, Ari Folman and Aimee Mullins.

Beyond The Mediterranean – Audience Award

Corso (The Last Beat), Gustave Reininger, USA, 2009
In jeder Sekunde (At Any Second),Jan Fehse, Germany, 2008
Kelin, Ermek Tursunov, Kazakhstan, 2009
No meu lugar (Eye of the Storm), Edouardo Valente, Brasil, 2009
Penalty (The Penalty), Ensieh Shah Husseini, Iran, 2009
Sin Nombre, Cary Fukunaga, USA and Mexico, 2009
Sonyeon-eun Woolji-anneunda (Once Upon a Time in Seoul), Hyung-Joon Bae, Korea,2008
Welcome to Sajjanpur, Shyam Benegal, India, 2008

There are many programs in this festival and one that calls my attention is the Strong Women program that includes eight films in “glamours evening” screenings in Grande Cinema at the Teatro Antico. The program will screen mainly mainstream films like Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal (Sandra Bullock), Michael Sucsy’s Gray Gardens and Stijn Coninx’s Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile) and others.

France Guest of Honor also has great films and the fest will present the Taormina Arte Award to two great French actresses who have left their mark on world cinema, Catherine Deneuve and Dominique Sanda. Also receiving the same award is Jessica Lange.

To read about the other programs, masterclasses (one with Fanny Ardant) and the many films that will be screened go here.