19/06/2009

The 55th Taormina Film Fest in Sicily continues with its focus on strong women. Thursday saw the screening of iconic actress Fanny Ardant’s directorial debut, Ashes and Blood [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which premiered in Cannes.

The film on the feuding families and the cyclical nature of violence and vengeance screened to a packed house and was followed by a masterclass. Ardant spoke mostly about the film, which was set in an invented country whose inhabitants spoke an invented language – a mix of Romanian, French and Hungarian, among others.

The actress-director further explained that even though Ashes and Blood features a female protagonist, her intent was very much to make a masculine film. “I was born into a family of extraordinary men and I don’t have a very feminist spirit,” she said. “I wanted to write a story more about men than women.”

Another French icon graced Taormina today, Catherine Deneuve, who presented the only French film in competition, Andre Téchiné’s The Girl on the Train [+see also:
trailer
film profile], about a scandalous case of anti-Semitism from 2004 (see news).

At the press conference preceding the film, the actress did not want to debate only anti-Semitism, but said: “There is always a need to speak of important issues and politics in cinema.”

In regards to Ardant, she admitted: “We were together in 8 Women [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and had to kiss, it was a difficult scene. I’d really like to work with her again, I think highly of her as a woman and love her as an actress.”

When asked whether she considered herself a strong woman, she questioned the term. “How come no one ever says ‘strong man’?” she asked. “It’s better to say ‘a strong personality’. It’s true, however, that women have to do more to arrive at the same position as a man, they work more and must have reserves of energy.”

Deneuve will be presented with a career Taormina Arte award tonight at the Teatro Antico, before the screening of Gilles Béat’s Belgian/French/Luxembourgish title Diamond 13 [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Gerard Depardieu and Asia Argento.