Filming Italy Sardegna, Alec Baldwin, Heather Graham, Simon Baker among guests. Tiziana Rocca: 'We support young talents

Tiziana Rocca presented in Rome the eighth edition of Filming Italy Sardegna, set to take place at Forte Village in Cagliari from June 19-22, 2025. “The Festival reaches its eighth edition this year. It’s an important milestone,” states Rocca, “confirming our commitment to promoting Italian and international cinema, supporting young talents, and creating an increasingly vibrant dialogue between culture, industry, and audiences.”

The jury president for the short film section will be Micaela Ramazzotti. “Our festival ambassador will be the talented Martina Stella, an artist who embodies beauty, talent, and a strong connection to our cinema. Numerous guests will attend the Festival and participate in masterclasses with young students from schools and universities of the Cinema Academy, including Heather Graham, American cinema icon Alec Baldwin, Rocío Muñoz Morales and Riccardo Milani, Aurora Giovinazzo and Giacomo Giorgio.”

Simon Baker – star of series like The Mentalist and films such as The Devil Wears Prada– will receive the Filming Italy Excellence Award. Anouchka Delon will receive an award in memory of her father Alain.

 

The event has established itself as unique in its genre because it connects Cinema and Television for the first time through screenings, meetings, and presentations of films and television series, involving the most important distribution companies and productions of the small and large screen together with VOD and television entertainment giants. This year again, the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival will be held in collaboration with APA - Audiovisual Producers Association, with the patronage of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Municipality of Cagliari, the Costa Smeralda Consortium, and with the collaboration of Forte Village.

Tiziana Rocca, General Director of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, stated: "It is an immense pleasure to present today the new edition of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, which has reached its eighth edition this year. An important milestone that confirms our commitment to promoting Italian and international cinema, supporting young talents, and creating an increasingly vibrant dialogue between culture, industry, and the public. I am particularly happy to announce that the godmother of this edition will be Martina Stella, an artist who embodies beauty, talent, and a strong connection with our cinema. Presiding over the short films section will be the intense and beloved Micaela Ramazzotti, accompanied by big names from the Italian and international panorama, such as actress and director Heather Graham, American cinema icon Alec Baldwin, Rocío Muñoz Morales and Riccardo Milani, Aurora Giovinazzo and Giacomo Giorgio”.

There will be numerous guests at the Festival who will engage in masterclasses with young students from schools and universities of the Academy Cinema, such as Simon Baker, Fran Drescher, Jane Seymour, and Luke Wilson, just to name a few. “Similarly, there will be numerous titles, more than 50, that we will present among films, documentaries, and television series, international and Italian, many of which in absolute premiere.

And of course, always standing by women, we renew our collaboration with Women in Film, Television & Media Italia, which will present three debut works by emerging female directors to the Festival audience."

The opening film of the festival will be “Poveri Noi,” directed by Fabrizio Maria Cortese starring Paolo Ruffini, Ricky Memphis, Ilaria Spada, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta, which will be distributed by Adler Entertainment. This comedy, produced by Orange Pictures with Rai Cinema, highlights themes such as friendship and gratitude, giving rise to a crescendo of truly unpredictable situations, which aim to entertain but at the same time make viewers reflect on the meaning of truly important values in everyone’s life.

In pre-opening of the Festival, on the evening of June 18 at Notorious Cinemas in Cagliari, there will be a screening of “Elio,” an animated film by Disney, directed by Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, and Adrian Molina.

Among the international films in the program: “Ezra” by Tony Goldwyn with Bobby Cannavale, Max Brandel, and Robert De Niro; “The Legend of Ochi” by Isaiah Saxon; “Drop” by Christopher Landon; “The Brutalist” by Brady Corbet with Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce; “Trois Amies” (Three Friends) by Emmanuel Mouret; “Prowl” by Isaiah Quiñones; “The Ritual” by David Midell with Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, and Abigail Cowen; “The Last Showgirl” by Gia Coppola with Pamela Anderson; “Conclave” by Edward Berger; “The Issue with Tissue – A Boreal Love Story” by Michael Zelniker; “Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning” by Christopher McQuarrie with Tom Cruise; “100 litri di birra” by Teemu Nikki; “My Everything” by Anne-Sophie Bailly; “Final Destination Bloodlines” by Zach Lipovski and Adam Stein; “The Apprentice” directed by Ali Abbasi; “Mr. Floof” by Claire Sliney; and “The Alto Knights.”

Among the special screenings, two restorations from the Cineteca di Bologna: “Fantozzi” by Luciano Salce from 1975, for the 50th anniversary of the film’s release; and the new 4K restoration of the film that earned Nanni Moretti the award for best director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, “Caro diario.” Among the television series, the fourth season of “L’amica genial - My Brilliant Friend”

 

Confirmed in its closeness to women, the collaboration with Women in Film, Television & Media Italia, a non-profit association born in the 70s in the USA and arrived in Italy in 2018, where it has become a reference point in the audiovisual and media sector, is renewed. On this occasion, Women in Film, Television & Media Italia will present three short films to the Festival audience: “Le prime volte” by Giulia Cosentino and Perla Sardella; “Maccarìa” by Giulia Minella; and “Radio Perla del Tirreno” by Noemi Arfuso.

Tiziana Rocca and the Festival direction. Tiziana Rocca is one of the rare female film festival directors in the world. She founded Filming Italy Los Angeles and Filming Italy Special Venice, and will direct the Taormina Film Festival. “The path for women is certainly uphill. I’ve been doing this work for many years – 8 years with Filming Italy Sardegna, 10 years with Filming Italy Los Angeles – and within my festivals, I’ve always tried to support women in the film world.” Rocca believes “we need many more female directors who tell beautiful and interesting stories that highlight women’s roles. This year we renew our collaboration with Women in Film, Television & Media Italia, which will present three debut works by emerging female directors to the Festival audience. I think the path is now underway, so we hope that many women will choose other women. A woman must work twice as hard to prove her worth – this is a rule in all professions – so it takes a lot of determination, tenacity, and willpower.” Rocca received the Industry Excellence Award at Cannes, presented by the French Riviera Festival for “her continuous contribution to the festival industry, and the talent and passion she infuses into it.”

 

The guests will engage in masterclasses with young students from schools and universities of the Cinema Academy: “We want to bring young people closer to this art form and – why not – encourage them to choose careers in cinema. This year, the Filming Italy Sardegna poster is linked to the importance of movie theaters, which absolutely must not close, as they represent fundamental cultural centers where young people meet.” More than 50 titles will be screened, including films, documentaries, and television series, both international and Italian, many as absolute premieres.

The Filming Italy Sardegna Festival is also partnering this year with Italy for Movies ( www.italyformovies.it ), the portal of locations and production incentives created by Cinecittà in collaboration with Italian Film Commissions and coordinated by the General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual of MiC. The portal, also available as an app downloadable from digital stores, provides all useful information on locations and incentives available for those who want to shoot their film in Italy, as well as industry news and many curiosities and travel suggestions for enthusiasts who want to visit film locations.

The work “Robot Primitivo” by artist Marco Marchese Borrelli, known as Marcondiro, will be present at Filming Italy. During the evening of June 19, artist Marcondiro and project manager Ursula Ruiu will take the stage and talk about how the project was born and the extraordinary international collaboration with the Carlo Rambaldi Foundation, named after the Italian Oscar winner celebrated worldwide.

The guests of Filming Italy Sardegna. In past years, Filming Italy Sardegna has hosted personalities such as Laura Dern, Richard Gere, Harvey Keitel, Elizabeth Olsen, Heather Graham, Valeria Golino, Vanessa Hudgens, Winston Duke, Édgar Ramírez, Justin Hartley, Matt Dillon, Isabelle Huppert, Eva Longoria, Lola Ponce, Christopher Walken, Dennis Quaid, Dominic West, and Alessandro Nivola.

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