Taormina Film Festival Looks to Return to the Center Stage

Amber Heard’s coworkers say she’s become more “resilient” after her experiences.

Amber Heard is moving on career-wise after that Johnny Depp defamation trial.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor The 69th Taormina Film Festival in Sicily saw the world premiere Saturday of the paranormal psychological thriller “In the Fire,” which marks the return to the big screen of Amber Heard following two highly publicized trials involving her former husband Johnny Depp. On the turquoise carpet (the color was chosen to match the Mediterranean, which serves as a stupendous backdrop), Heard greeted a crowd of fans — accompanied by paparazzi and tourists — who shouted words of encouragement at the “Aquaman” star. The producers and festival organizers had worried about possible demonstrations by Depp supporters. Producer Pascal Borno told Variety he had to persuade the Italian police to provide extra security after receiving online threats. “They took it seriously and afterwards I promised them selfies with Amber,” he said.

Amber Heard has been easing back into official public life gently at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival over the past few days, accompanying the world premiere of her new film In The Fire by Conor Allyn.

Amber Heard has formally returned to the red carpet after settling her legal battle with Johnny Depp!

The newly rebooted Taormina Film Festival kicked off on Friday night in the Sicilian city’s landmark Teatro Antico amphitheatre in an unusual but magnificent style with benefit event “Pavarotti Forever”.

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

final installment of the long-running franchise to include Ford, 80, is titled “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and is set to be released on June 30.The star explained to Digital Spy in a recent interview why there is a 15-year gap between the fourth and fifth films.He noted that the studio wasn’t clamoring to release another flick so soon after “Crystal Skull” debuted.“Well, it wasn’t as though we sat around for 10 years waiting to come up with an idea,” Ford said.  “When we finished the last film, I don’t think anybody thought about going and doing another film for some time,” he added.The length of time between the last two movies could also be attributed to “Crystal Skull’s” not-so-good reviews.While it was regarded as 2008’s second highest-grossing film and took in about $790 million, it holds a 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.Critics’ reviews were mixed, with one person even calling it “the most lifeless of the series” and “simply [not] a very good motion picture.”Ford continued to tell the entertainment news outlet that “there were some interesting ideas that were floated” for a fifth movie over the last few years, however, producers weren’t too keen about them.“And then we found an idea, and a script, and a strong story that we wanted to tell,” he gushed about “Dial of Destiny.” “Dial of Destiny” takes place in the mid-1960s with Indiana joining his goddaughter Helena Shaw (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) as they go on a quest to find a dial that can change history.“The Wolverine” director James Mangold is helming the feature and it also stars the talents of Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore and Mads Mikkelsen.Ford was also digitally de-aged for the flick, as the new story

Italian artist Marco Perego’s debut feature The Absence of Eden has set a picturesque world premiere at the upcoming edition of Italy’s 69th Taormina Film Festival, running from June 23 to July 1.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Mother of all Lies, a docu-drama film that probes the secrets of Morocco’s 1981 Bread Riots, was Sunday named the best picture at the Sydney Film Festival. The jury, headed by Anurag Kashyap, called the Asmae El Moudir-directed film “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” It presented the A$60,000 ($41,100) cash prize film ahead at the State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The film, which uses doll-like figurines, recently premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where it earned the section’s best director prize. “Juxtaposing evidence from barely existent public materials with private family memory, this film reconstructs the history of the state, the family and the individual, in three distinct levels,” said the jury of Kashyap, actor Mia Wasikowska (Australia), film curator and journalist Dorothee Wenner (Germany), writer and director Larissa Behrendt (Australia) and filmmaker Visakesa Chandrasekaram (Australia – Sri Lanka).

#IndianaJones and the Dial of Destiny. pic.twitter.com/fNjcejQSMlWilliams was introduced by Steven Spielberg, who while introducing the James Mangold-directed film coyly paid tribute to George Lucas and Harrison Ford who were onstage with him, as the co-creators of Indiana Jones.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Eastern Promises industry platform has unveiled 27 film projects that will be showcased during its Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch and First Cut+ Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects, selected by international juries, will receive awards with a total value of 115,000 EUR.  The showcasing of projects to industry professionals will take place in Karlovy Vary, during this year’s KVIFF Industry Days on July 3 (Works in Progress and Works in Development – Feature Launch) and July 4 (First Cut+ Works in Progress). For Works in Progress, 11 fiction and documentary feature films in the late stage of production or post-production from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa have been selected.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and retires to newly-married life that turns out to be anything but bliss. When she decides to return to acting she teams up with a fan and an absurd plot to kill her absurdly rich husband. The film is directed by Lee Won-suk who previously attended the NYAFF with his first film, “How to Use Guys With Secret Tips,” in 2013 and returned with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the audience award at NYAFF in 2015.

Lily-Rose Depp has made a very public declaration of love. In honor of girlfriend 070 Shake's 26th birthday on Tuesday, the star took to her Instagram Story with a series of snaps of the two together. «Happy birthday Love of my life,» Depp wrote.

Amber Heard is returning to the spotlight.

Naman Ramachandran International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has appointed former BFI London Film Festival director Clare Stewart to the position of managing director, taking over from Marjan van der Haar. Stewart was most recently interim CEO at Sheffield DocFest and commences in the role at IFFR on June 21. IFFR has a dual leadership structure where the managing director and festival director oversee the commercial and creative elements of the organization respectively, working in partnership. Stewart previously consulted with the IFFR board of directors in 2021 in its first phase of re-evaluation prior to her joining DocFest, with a focus on the IFFR program structure and content strategy.

Amber Heard is headed back to the big screen. The 37-year-old actress, who has stepped away from the limelight since losing the 2022 defamation case brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, 60,  will appear in the upcoming thriller In The Fire, which is set to premiere at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Italy. It will be the first time she has promoted a film since her court battle, reported Deadline.

EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Alcazar’s Sundance-lauded feature Divinity will premiere internationally at the Taormina Film Festival on June 29th in Italy. Writer and Director Alcazar and stars Bella Thorne, Karrueche Tran and Moises Arias are set to appear at the Teatro Antico for the celebration.

Amber Heard‘s next big appearance has been announced!

Amber Heard’s next movie is on the way.