BEYOND 40 PREVIEWS – TRIBUTE TO ENNIO MORRICONE
Among the GUESTS:
EMMANUELLE SEIGNER – VITTORIO STORARO – DOLCE&GABBANA and also NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU – WILLEM DAFOE, to the latter the Taormina Arte Award for Lifetime Achievement.
(from Taormina Luigi Noera with the kind collaboration of Marina Pavido- The photos are published courtesy of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation)
Here we are again after a year to tell you about the most glamorous Film Festival in Sicily with over 40 previews at the Ancient Theater and streaming on MyMovies which resists DESPITE the pandemic.
Fourteen first or second works in the main competition, 12 documentaries, 11 independent European productions e 4 special events. Thus it restarts from an Official Selection of over 40 
previews the 66th Taormina FilmFest, directed by Leo Gullotta and Francesco Calogero, which remains alongside the public and from 11 to 19 July returns to theaters and debuts in streaming, your MYmovies.it, produced and organized by Videobank S.p.A. courtesy of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation, under the patronage of the Regional Tourism Department, of Sport and Entertainment. Respectful of protocols and social distancing, Room A of the Palazzo dei Congressi in Taormina will host the double screening at 19 and at 21.30 of the International Competition, dedicated to the beginnings, the online schedule will offer even richer programming, available for 24 ore, accompanied by a daily in-depth strip, with video documents, archive images, evocative emotional shots and guest interventions, a partial narration of a entirely virtual festival.
Fully respecting gender equality between the directors of the selected works in the three competitive sections - the 50% exact of the authors is made up of women - the selection of the main competitive category revolves around intimate but universal stories:
“Our Own” di Jeanne Leblanc (CAN, 2020), Magalie is a teenager who has to take the reins of his life in hand. Against all.
“Critical Thinking” di John Leguizamo (USA, 2020), A group of high school kids from Miami, stimulated by a great coach, they win the national chess championship.
“The Lunchroom” di Ezequiel Radusky (ARG, 2019), Lila and Marcela work as cleaners in an office but have a dream that they will fight for.
“The Cloud In Her Room” di Xinyuan Zheng Lu (CHN/HKG, 2020), Returned to her parents' old apartment, Muzi reassembles pieces of the past hoping that they indicate a trace towards the future.
"The Alien" by Nader Saeivar (IRN, 2020), In a city in Iran, two mysterious men park their cars in the same place every day. People are starting to get suspicious
“Heart And Bones” di Ben Lawrence (OUT, 2019), A story of racism that passes through an exhibition of photographs of war zones.
“Oskar & Lilli – Where No One Knows Us” di Arash T. Riahi (OR, 2020), they are two Chechen refugees forced to separate from their mother.
"Jiyan" was Süheyla Schwenk (GIVE, 2019), The story of Hayat, Turkish refugee living in Berlin with her husband. They are waiting to know what their fate as refugees will be, when suddenly man disappears ...
"Mother" by Jure Pavlović (CRO / SER / FRA / BIH, 2019), Jasna has left Croatia but due to her mother's illness she is forced to return.
“Charter” di Amanda Kernell (EVERYTHING, 2020), Waiting for the child custody verdict, Alice, exhausted, decides to kidnap them and take them with him to the Canary Islands
“Uncle” by Frelle Petersen (AND, 2019), Kris is no longer a teenager. She has always lived on her uncle's farm but great changes are expected for her
“A Thief’s Daughter” di Belen Funés (SPA, 2019), Sara has 22 years and would like to leave the past behind. One day, released from prison, his father reappears in his life. It's time for her to choose.
“Perfumes” by Grégory Magne (FROM, 2020) Anne Walberg creates world famous fragrances
“Il Re Muore” by Laura Angiulli (ITA, 2019).A film that originates from the opera 'Richard II’ William Shakespeare
Among the works out of competition, in the space called "Filmmaker in Sicily", special screenings 
of "I know who you are" by Alessandro Colizzi, docufilm dedicated to memory and the search for truth for the mafia victim Antonino Agostino; "The shameful story" by Nella Condorelli, made with new materials, found in audiovisual and photographic archives, and centered on the great Italian emigration to the Americas of the early twentieth century; and finally the closing film of the festival "The Golden Rule", second work by Alessandro Lunardelli, mostly shot in Taormina, with Simone Liberati, Edoardo Pesce, Barbora Bobulova, Hadas Yaron.
And with two unmissable events, the lights of the great international cinema will be re-lit even in the suggestive millenary natural setting of the Ancient Theater, for the occasion it can be used again and used for entertainment events, albeit in an unprecedented scenographic guise. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana will be guests of the Sicilian Region and the Taormina FilmFest on the occasion of the world premiere of the film "Devotion", directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, with unpublished music by Ennio Morricone and produced by Dolce&Gabbana. The evening will take place at the Ancient Theater of Taormina on 18 July 2020. The closing ceremony of the edition - with the participation of the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and the band The Magic Door - will therefore take place on 19 July and will see the winners of the three competitive sections as protagonists, with the delivery of the traditional Charybdis and Masks of Polyphemus prizes, in the presence of the international jury. And exceptionally it will be Leo Gullotta who will accompany the affectionate public of the event on the occasion of the evening, which will welcome a large number of guests: among others, the names of Emmanuelle Seigner stand out, of the three-time Oscar winner Vittorio Storaro - who will collect the Cariddi d'Oro 
to Career - as well as those of Willem Dafoe and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who will receive the traditional Taormina Arte Award.
from 18 July to 18 October, at the Casa del Cinema in Taormina, the photographic exhibition “Women in cinema” will also be set up - created in collaboration with the CSC Foundation – Experimental Center of Cinematography and Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation - which presents numerous female images taken from some of the most famous and loved films in the history of Italian cinema, all from the Photographic Archive of the National Film Archive.
Radio Monte Carlo is the official radio of the event. Eurovision is also among the media partners of the event, Società Editrice South (Journal of Sicily / Gazzetta del Sud), La Sicilia Multimedia and MYmovies.it.
Hotel Metropole Taormina is the official hotel of the event.