What do we have in common with Matt Dillon and James Franco?
Well, we were all in Sicily last week for the Taormina Film Festival. The filmonistas were there for business. We were there for our honeymoon. That’s right, your happy couple at the helm of the Exotic Recordings family, celebrated their recent nuptials with a whirlwind trip to Sicily. This “honeymoon” is now officially a tax write-off since we attended festival screenings and asked Matt Dillon intelligent questions during his “master class” in directing.
Mr. Dillon gave really frank and insightful commentary on the realities of the film business. Despite his iconic status as an actor, he has experienced enough setbacks that he appears humble and realistic, yet still confident. Regardless of his success as an actor, he still had to work over seven years to get his independent film “City of Ghosts” completed and distributed.
We also attended the deliciously bad yet totally entertaining world premiere of “Transformers”. We happily lapped up extra portions of gratuitous bare female abdomen and predictable one-liners for the privilege of seeing a world premiere action movie in an ancient Greek amphitheatre.
The premiere of Michael Bay’s new creation was held at Taormina’s Teatro Antico, a 5,000 sf former coliseum that is now a modern movie theater with a screen the size of a city block. We enjoyed the custom laser light show introduction on sandstone seats with 5,000 locals, tourists, students, industry wanna-bes, industry elites, and hoochies working for various corporate sponsors. I wore a dress and tried to look important.
This premiere in this setting was the perfect interaction between past and future. The film, a monster futuristic creation representing the most evil meeting of corporate greed, creativity, cheap thrills, and ego, projected in the crumbling remains of the greatest civilization of all time. We both had the chills.
“Transformers” was the polar opposite of the final film presentation we attended - a preview screening of James Franco’s directorial debut “Good Time Max”. Though clearly low-budget, it was watchable, engaging and clever. James Franco was in attendance to briefly introduce the film, which he did shyly and without fanfare. I don’t feel I quite get him yet, but he’s clearly talented and ambitious.
For all you film buffs looking for the ultimate film festival experience, we highly recommend the Taormina Film Festival - http://www.taorminafilmfest.it - which is part of a larger season-long event called Taormina Arte - http://www.taoarte.tv.
This informational update was brought to you by Mr. and Mrs. Saunders.
