Luc Besson will receive the Nations Award for career in Taormina

John

By John

Taormina renews her special link with international cinema on the occasion of the Nations Awardthe film prize founded in the 70s within the International Film Festival of Messina and Taormina and already assigned to acclaimed icons of world cinema such as Gina Lollobrigida, Woody Allen, Claudia Cardinale, F. Murray Abraham, Gérard Depardieu, Ferzan Özpetek, Daniel Brühl, Christopher Lambert, Nicola Piovani, Abel Ferrara and Vittorio Storaro. Organized under the high patronage of the European Parliament, the Senate of the Republic, the Sicilian Region and with the patronage and support of the Sicilian Region and the Naxos-Tamina Archaeological Park the event will culminate in the award ceremony that will take place on June 28 in the suggestive setting of the ancient theater of Taormina, the most beautiful “outdoor cinema” in the world.

During the gala evening, the famous director, French screenwriter and producer Luc Besson – who recently directed Dracula: in love, played by Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz and Matilda De Angelis – will be in the parterre of guests of honor present in the evocative scenario of the ancient theater and will make his expected return to the famous Sicilian tourist destination in the shadow of Mount Etna, where in 1983 he had presented his first feature film, Le Dernier Combat, Le Dernier Combat. And where a few years later he returned to take the filming of Le Grand Bleu, the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. On the occasion of this new visit, the winner of the César Prize for the fifth element will be awarded with the Nations Award to his career for his exceptional dedication to the progress of film art and for his commitment without compromise on his personal artistic vision. In 2024, the recognition was attributed to the actor twice Oscar for the usual suspicions and American Beauty Kevin Spacey – who performed in a rare live performance playing Antonio’s monologue from the Julius Caesar of William Shakespeare – and one of the greatest representatives of Italian cinema in the world such as Giancarlo Giannini. The event is the organized with the support and patronage of the Sicilian Region and with the patronage of the Municipality of Taormina and the Metropolitan City of Messina.

“It is an immense honor to be able to welcome a great master like Luc Besson after so much time since he shot Grand Bleu, in which he drawn his passion for the sea and marine life”, They declared Michel Curatolo and Marco Falllacarespectively president and artistic director of the event. “The spectacular shots of Taormina have certainly contributed to dragging spectators around the world in a dizzying underwater adventure, but it was the emotional intensity of the cinematographic experience and the mystical themes of the story to make” the “film of an entire generation, leaving an indelible mark in the collective imagination as a real social phenomenon”.

With over four career decades and more than 50 asset titles, Besson’s work has had a significant impact and influence on the world film industry thanks to a series of great successes that have reached cult status. Creator of world successful franchise such as Taken, Transporter and Taxi, with over 4 billion dollars of box office collections all over the world, is widely recognized for his contribution to the French movement of the “Cinéma du Look”. Alternating a sense of childhood fun with a voyeuristic taste for the danger from a wise storyteller, Besson’s films are distinguished by a strong visual style and an extraordinary creative flair, resulting at the same time shocking and intensely compelling.