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The two-day event in Messina (18-19 June) which inaugurated the celebrations for the twentieth edition of SalinaDocFest, the narrative documentary festival founded and directed by Giovanna Taviani, ended today amid the warmth of the public and the enthusiasm of the young students of the Dams of the University of Messina. The two events, which saw the participation of the president of the SalinaDocFest association, Giulia Giuffrè and the vice-president Gaetano Calà, celebrated the historical bond between Messina and the Aeolian Islands, moving towards the main event of the festival which will be held in Salina from 8 to 12 July. Guest of honor at the preview was the Roman director Matteo Garrone, who received the SDF Messina Foundation Award for Culture, a recognition already awarded in the past to Giuseppe Fiorello and Elio Germano. In the official motivation, the Foundation wanted to celebrate an author who was able to merge the short pace of the story with the broad structure of the novel, bringing together news and fairy tale, realism and vision. In Garrone’s cinema, the harshness of reality is transfigured into a dimension where social wounds dialogue with myth and the archetypal power of fairy tales.
From Pinocchio to Io Capitano, his works have been recognized as emblems of contemporary travel, in perfect harmony with the “Odysseys” theme chosen for the 2026 edition of the Festival. The superintendent of the Messina Foundation for Culture, Rosario Coppolino, underlined in his greeting how the Messina preview represents a precious opportunity to strengthen the dialogue between the city and the most significant cultural experiences of the audiovisual panorama, creating an “ideal bridge between places, sensitivity and communities in the name of sharing”. The Foundation recognized SalinaDocFest’s ability to bring together artistic excellence with a profound public vocation and attention to the present. During the meeting with the public last night, followed by the screening of Io Capitano, Garrone declared his love for the island: “When I come to Sicily I feel at home, I feel my roots”, defining the territory as a “gold mine” of faces and talents yet to be discovered. The director explained how his work comes from listening to reality and then bringing it to the big screen through visionary realism.
Garrone’s statements
“Returning to Sicily for me is always a moment of great emotion, because despite having family roots in other parts of the South, when I come here I feel deeply at home, I feel my roots. I have a true passion for this land, for its dimension and for its baroque, sometimes even funereal, which I find in cities like Catania and Palermo. Sicily is not only a wonderful set where we were lucky enough to shoot the last weeks of Io Capitano between Marsala and its sea, but it is a land that it exudes an incredible vital and sensual energy. I love the South of the world and the not too tidy places where you can still clearly perceive that they have been, and still are, world cultural centers. From a cinematographic point of view, I consider the island a real gold mine for faces yet to be discovered. Here the features of the people are like masks that leave you breathless; in addition to the great professionals we already know, there are many potential actors just waiting to be revealed I found the right idea. It’s a place that pushes you to look inside the work and always look for new ways to tell the reality.”