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Updated with latest photos: The Taormina Film Festival kicked off its 2023 edition on June 23 with a lineup that included the Italian premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny which brought out stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, and the Amber Heard-starring In the Fire directed by Conor Allyn. (Read about Heard’s exclusive interview with Deadline here.) It also features a short-film program curated by Bella Thorne, who is premiering her own short film Paint Her Red.

Other European premieres on tap at Taormina include Eva Vik’s Serpentine, starring supermodel Barbara Palvin. Another supermodel, Adriana Lima, is in town with FIFA: A Love Letter to Rwanda by Craig Goodwill, in which she appears and also executive produced. Later in the festival, Italian artist Marco Perego’s debut feature The Absence of Eden will world premiere with co-stars Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona joining Perego.

Italy’s Taormina Film Festival kicks off its 69th edition Friday evening against the backdrop of its landmark Teatro Antico amphitheatre with a “Pavarotti Forever” benefit event headlined by Placido Domingo and Vittorio Grigolo.

It’s not the typical opening for a film festival, but it is in keeping with the eclectic programming of incoming artistic director Barrett Wissman, whose interview with Deadline on his plans for the festival can be read here.

Much is riding on the edition, with Wissman being brought in to raise its local and international profile after a turbulent decade, which was compounded by the Covid pandemic.

Topping the bill over the first weekend is the Italian premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny in the presence of Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s the first time a major Disney production has touched down at the festival since Inside Out in 2015. Indiana Jones,...

The 69th Taormina Film Festival boasts an impressive lineup of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Located in the historical Sicilian town – its visibility recently getting an unlooked for boost with the second season of HBO’s ”The White Lotus” – will be hosting a series of screenings. The outdoor Teatro Antico will provide a suitably antique background for the Italian premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, and Mads Mikkelsen in attendance.

The directorial debut of Italian artist Marco Perego, “The Absence of Eden,” will receive its world premiere. The film stars Perego’s wife Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona. The thriller tells the story of an undocumented immigrant fleeing a drug cartel whose path crosses with a U.S. Immigration...

Eva Vik’s ‘Serpentine’ Starring Barbara Palvin To Make European Premiere at Taormina

Eva Vik’s short film Serpentine, starring supermodel Barbara Palvin, will make its European premiere at the 69th edition of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival, running from June 23 to July 1. Czech writer and director Eva Vik explores the possibilities of interspecies development in the film, which was previously nominated for the X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. Set within a mysterious snake cult, the stylistic body-horror follows attempts to initiate a snake-human hybrid through genetic engineering – creating an extraterrestrial higher power intelligence as a new influential force. Palvin is joined in the cast by Soo Joo Park, and Luke Brandon Field. The film’s official partner is Bulgari brand, and it was produced by Evasion Pictures. The film will play in Taormina’s Influential Shorts program, a special gala event curated by Bella Thorne. “I look...

Exclusive: The fourth annual Mammoth Film Festival will return to kick off its fourth edition February 3 with a double opening-night screening: the Nina Dobrev-directed short The One in her helming debut followed by the world premiere of the Emile Hirsch-Kate Bosworth psychological thriller The Immaculate Room.

The fest, set in the resort town of Mammoth Lakes nestled in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, will run in-person February 3-6. Last year’s edition was not held because of the pandemic.

Written and directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil with Joel David Moore among its producers, Immaculate Room centers on a couple that takes part in a psychological experiment that will reward them with $5 million if they can stay in a perfectly white room for 30 days. Ashley Greene Khoury also stars in the pic, from Productivity Media Pictures, Balcony 9 Productions and K5 Films.

The Dobrev-directed short The One stars Madeline Brewer,...

Supernatural love story “The In Between,” starring Joey King, will premiere on Paramount Plus on Feb. 11, the streaming service announced.

King plays a teenage girl who has lived in foster homes for much of her childhood, and encounters a romantic senior from a neighboring town (Kyle Allen). After he dies in a car accident, she begins to think he is contacting her from the afterworld. Kim Dickens, John Ortiz and Celeste O’Connor co-star. The film will be available on Netflix internationally. Watch the trailer below.

‘Betty White: A Celebration’ Marked Actor’s Final On-Camera Appearance

Betty White’s final on-camera appearance, recorded just ten days before her death, was at “Betty White: A Celebration.” White taped her appearance at the event put together by Fathom.

Due to public demand for “Betty White: A Celebration,” Fathom Events has expanded showings to over 1500 locations nationwide so that more people can participate in the one-day-only film.

Val Kilmer is returning to the big screen in the upcoming Top Gun sequel, but all the attention this week was on his 23-year-old son, actor Jack Kilmer.

The Heat star, 58, stepped out with Jack at a private screening of his son’s new film Carte Blanche. The duo, who share an uncanny likeness, posed for pictures together alongside the film’s director, Eva Dolezalova at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Thursday.

The film tells the story of a young actor who is suddenly launched into stardom as the lead in a major movie franchise. “Attending a high-profile Hollywood function,...