Rocca Runs Two Italian Film Fests Back-To-Back
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- Tiziana Rocca is gearing up to launch Filming Italy Sardegna (June 25-28 at Forte Village, Cagliari), the festival she founded nine years ago, less than two weeks after closing the 72nd Taormina Film Festival as its Artistic Director.
- Filming Italy Sardegna will screen 50-plus films, open with Toy Story 5, close with Supergirl, and host guests including Harvey Keitel, Sofia Carson, Tim Roth, James Franco, Sam Levinson, Kate Beckinsale, and Jeremy Piven — with Piven and Katherine McNamara set to receive Filming Italy International Awards.
- Taormina's 72nd edition (June 10-14) was presided over by jury head Jane Campion and drew Russell Crowe (world-premiering Bear Country), Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Emile Hirsch, Holly Hunter, Miles Teller and others, while Turkish film Hear the Yellow swept best film, director, actor and actress.
- Rocca frames the two events as complementary: Taormina is "more historic and grander," anchored by its 6,000-seat Ancient Greek Amphitheatre, while Sardegna is rooted in mentorship, student access, and championing female and emerging voices — a contrast she says makes balancing both feasible.
- Rocca's return to Taormina followed her 2017 departure amid political turmoil and a revolving door of successors that included former Venice head Marco Mueller in 2024; she reintroduced the international competition last year as a signal of renewed focus on global cinema.
- Sardegna's short film competition "In Corto," run with the University of Cagliari, will see winning shorts broadcast on Rai Cinema Channel and the MyMovies platform before crossing to its sister initiative Filming Italy – Los Angeles in February.
Why it matters: Running two Italian island festivals back-to-back is unusual, and Rocca is using Sardegna to position Cagliari as a summer launch pad for international releases (Toy Story 5, Supergirl) while leaning on Taormina's ancient amphitheatre to restore its industry credibility after years of political turmoil and directorial churn.
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