The theme of the International Film Festival of Messina 2027 will be “ISole”. This was announced by the artistic director Francesco Cannavà in the press conference on Monday 17 August at the Circolo del Tennis e della Vela, where the birth of the Circolo Amiche e Amici della Rassegna was also presented.
The theme of 2027: an island-city suspended between two shores
«The Messina International Film Festival was also born from a promise. A promise made, about 5 years ago, with Lelio Bonaccorso and a representation of Messina artists in Messina: to return to believing in the ability of our city to be a place of production, culture and vision, and not just a territory from which talents are forced to leave.
«For these reasons the theme of the Messina International Film Festival 2027 will be ‘ISole”https://messina.gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/cinema/2026/08/18/rassegna-cinematografica-di-messina-il-tem in-2027-sara-isole-a-border-town-suspended-between-two-banks-c70f0208-6cd1-4203-acbc-f952b2a0b806/.”ISole’ it’s a play on words, inside there is a precise idea of city and community.
«Messina itself is an island and border city, suspended between two shores, between Sicily and the continent, between belonging and openness, between memory and the future. Its relationship with the sea and the Strait does not represent a distance, but a possibility of relationship. ‘ISole’ therefore wants to tell precisely this: the possibility of transforming isolation into connection, distance into encounter, marginality into the centre.
«It is a theme that also deeply concerns the artists of Messina. A talent can be born on an island, but it doesn’t have to feel peripheral. It can communicate with the world without giving up its identity. In this sense, ‘ISole’ is also a declaration of intent of the Festival: to connect the different ‘islands’ of contemporary cinema, the authors, the generations, the territories, the cultures and the languages; create connections between Messina and the rest of the world; demonstrate that a new cultural center can be born precisely from a place historically perceived as peripheral” – with these words the artistic director Francesco Cannavà revealed the theme of the Messina International Film Festival 2027, at the press conference held on Monday 17 August at the Tennis and Sailing Club.
The Circolo Amiche e Amici della Rassegna is born
Cannavà also announced the birth of the Circolo Amiche e Amici della Rassegna: an open community of professionals, artists, cultural workers, enthusiasts and citizens who wish to accompany the growth of the Messina International Film Festival over time. «The Exhibition – explained Cannavà – also wants to be a space capable of transforming an individual heritage of experiences, professionalism and affections into a new collective energy. The Club was therefore born with this spirit: not only to support an event, but to belong to a cultural project.”
«A special thanks to Ninni Bruschetta, to the maestro Marco Dentici and to Giuseppe De Domenico who with great affection and friendship wanted to link their name to the reborn Rassegna. Their support represents something more than a simple collaboration: it testifies to the desire of a community to recognize itself again around its city and its cinema.”
The synergy with the Dams and the work of the Scientific Committee
The synergy with the Dams of Messina directed by the prof will continue. Dario Tomasello and also for the next edition, not only masterclasses, but also activities such as competition juries or participation in the organizational staff are planned for the students of the University of Messina.
The artistic director thanked all those who worked for the success of the Exhibition, which ended on August 1st, starting with the precious presence of the production director Davide Liotta who with the ARB cultural association guaranteed the perfect functioning of the Exhibition every evening: «What moved everyone – said Liotta – was the profound desire to contribute to a new reputation for our community. For our part, we responded by certainly focusing on content but also on the best technological equipment and guaranteeing an excellent welcome to guests arriving from out of town. When people talk well about Messina and enhance its image, the interest becomes unanimous and contagious.”
The director and producer then underlined the work of the Scientific Committee, chaired by Franco Cicero and composed of professionals such as Nino Genovese, Cettina Donato, Dario Tomasello and Federico Vitella. The journalist Franco Cicero recounted the events that suggested the historical reconstruction of the festival: «The cinematographic component of the Committee – he said – moved first of all on a primary and essential task, that is to establish exactly the historical origins of the ‘Review’, highlighting the role of the city of Messina and the people of Messina especially in the decades of the intersection with the cinematographic activities of Taormina which caused various confusions, due to haste or superficiality” but then also underlined that “in line with our Artistic Director Francesco Cannavà, we members of the Committee are interested in the glories of the present and above all those of the future”.
Thanks to the institutions and work team
Cannavà then continued to thank the Tennis and Sailing Club, with its president Tato Spatari, and the Stock Exchange Club, with president Alfonso Polto, who made their spaces available to the Exhibition to welcome and meet personalities of international culture and recalled that the Exhibition took place thanks also to the support of the mayor Federico Basile, of the Municipality of Messina, of the Messina Foundation for Culture chaired by the superintendent Rosario Coppolino, of the President of the Strait Port System Authority, Francesco Rizzo.
«A special thanks then – concluded the artistic director – to the entire professional community made up of the team of 8 Road Film founded by Renata Giuliano, by Antonio Grasso and all the PVK staff for filming and video editing, by Germana Arcidiacono technical coordinator assisted by Michele La Rosa, by the photographer Giuseppe Contarini, by Colapesce Studio by Giuliana Galletti and Roberta Sinardi for Visual and Digital Communication, by Maria Arruzza for the press office, by Samuele Fernandez for the website, by Gaetano Aspa and Carla Fiorentino for UniVersoMe together with their colleagues from the university editorial team, by Mattia Lembo for video editing, by Noemi David extraordinary talent from Messina who hosted the evenings at the Agorà dello Stretto, by Ettore Liotta technical director, by Carlo Naccari photographer, by Claudia Catanzaro for public management together with Alessia Scrima and Adriana Cicero, by Noemi Fucile coordinator of the guests who were present during the seven evenings of the 2026 Show together with Pino De Domenico and Walter Arena, Gilberto Flaccone and Andrea De Francesco in production, Fabrizio La Scala and all the staff of the Cinema Apollo and last but not least the program ‘The Stage’ with which the Show was twinned, presenting the talents that emerged in the show every evening on stage”.