Film and music stars shine with Ischia Global Fest

Pascal Vicedomini’s big event brings big names from Hollywood and homegrown talent to the island: this year’s red carpet is packed again

In summer in Ischia, cinema becomes the absolute protagonist. In the sign of a long tradition: the seventh art has always had a soft spot for the Green Island. From “Cleopatra” to “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” to some of the most exhilarating episodes of the TV series “L’Amica Geniale”: nooks and crannies and landscapes, villages and beaches have over the years proved to be irresistible open-air sets.
Renewing the link between cinema and the island once again this year is theIschia Global Film & Music Festival, which celebrates its 22nd edition with a format that brings together talent and excellence in our own cinema and culture with the glittering world of Hollywood, July 7-13, 2024.
Any names? From the legendary Sting and Trudie Styler to the Slavic director Emir Kusturica, via Madalina Ghenea – testimonial of the event – and the extraordinary Gianna Nannini, who was awarded the William Walton Award, an accolade in the name of the British composer who elected Ischia as his buen ritiro, building there – with his wife Susana – that happy oasis that are the La Mortella Gardens.

The Global’s format, according to the intuition of its founder and director, Pascal Vicedomini, alternates panels and forums on major contemporary issues (from artificial intelligence, among the most intriguing focuses this year, to the role of women in the film industry) to public street events, with a series of free screenings in the island’s cinemas and some of its main squares (info www.ischiaglobal.clom). Exclusive gala evenings, which for the past few years have also chosen some extraordinarily attractive venues, from the Torre Guevara in Cartaromana to the “Nenzi Bozzi” pine forest, along with some of the most “in” hotels and restaurants in the area.

Over the years, big names in international film and music have appeared on the kermesse’s privileged red carpet: among others, Nicolas Cage, Jeremy Irons, Monica Bellucci, Lily Collins, Helen Mirren, Zucchero, Quincy Jones, Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone and many others.
“Everyone is enraptured by the beauty of Ischia and, I guarantee you, in Los Angeles there is a kind of tam-tam that brings famous actors and directors almost to invite themselves,” Vicedomini explains. It happens, on Ischian evenings, that American producers and directors meet and strike the “spark”: the idea of a film, the insight of an original screenplay, a new professional “liaison.” As was the case in the days of Angelo Rizzoli, who made Ischia itself a small summer capital of cinema, electing it as a privileged point of reference for the big names in show business.

History, it seems, is renewed: being a part of it, being won over by the charm of movie and music legends, is one more reason to choose the island.

Photo Credit: Orlando Faiola