Taormina Film Festival returns to Rai after eight years: a special on Rai2 featuring Oscar winners and big stars.

After an eight-year absence from Rai channels , the Taormina Film Festival returns to Italian public television with a special dedicated entirely to its 72nd edition . The event is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 11:45 p.m. on Rai2 , when a 75-minute program will air retracing the most important moments of the film festival, which took place in mid-June in the evocative setting of the Ancient Theatre of Taormina.

The return to television represents a significant milestone for one of Italy's longest-running and internationally renowned film festivals. Through images, meetings, interviews, and moments from official evenings, the special will offer national audiences a glimpse of the Festival and the many protagonists who have come to Sicily for the 2026 edition.

Oscar winners and great protagonists of international cinema

The program will showcase some of the most significant moments experienced during the five days of the Taormina Film Festival 2026 , featuring the presence of leading figures from world cinema.

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Guests included Oscar winners Helen Mirren, Russell Crowe and Jane Campion , protagonists of an event that once again focused on its international dimension and on the ability to bring together authors, actors and great personalities from the film industry.

Alongside the international stars, the special will also give space to two key names in the history of Italian cinema: Giancarlo Giannini and Franco Nero , together with the numerous actors, directors and artists who passed through the Ancient Theatre during the 72nd edition.

Tiziana Rocca leads the story of the five days

Tiziana Rocca will host the television special , accompanying viewers through the story of the Festival through images collected during the evenings, meetings with guests, and statements from the protagonists.

The broadcast will allow us to reconstruct not only the passage of the big stars on the Taormina stage, but also the cultural and cinematographic journey of the edition, with the screenings of films and documentaries , the awards ceremonies and the events that characterised the programme.

The goal is to bring back to television audiences the atmosphere of an event that combines cinema, entertainment, culture, and local promotion, taking advantage of one of the symbolic locations of Sicily and Italy's entire cultural heritage.

Elvira Amata: "A national showcase worthy of its history."

Particular satisfaction was expressed by the Sicilian Regional Councillor for Tourism, Sport and Entertainment, Elvira Amata , who underlined the value of the Festival's return to public television after a long absence.

" The return of the Taormina Film Festival to Rai represents an important achievement, because it gives one of the longest-running and most prestigious film events in our country a national showcase worthy of its history and international reach ," said Amata.

According to the councilor, the 72nd edition once again confirmed the event's ability to attract important figures from the film and entertainment worlds to the Sicilian city, also transforming the event into a tool for promoting the island's image.

"Rai brings the Festival's story to Italian homes."

Amata also highlighted the connection between the film festival and the ability to promote Sicily on a national and international scale.

" The 72nd edition confirmed the Festival's ability to attract major figures from the worlds of cinema and entertainment to Taormina and strengthen Sicily's image. Its presence on Rai today allows us to amplify this story and bring it into Italian homes ," added the regional councilor.

The broadcast on Rai2 therefore broadens the Festival's audience, transforming the five days spent in Taormina into a television product accessible to viewers throughout Italy.

The special produced by the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation

The 75-minute special was produced and directed by the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation , a central body in the organization and promotion of the event, while the television direction was entrusted to Roberto Croce.

The production gathers together the wealth of images and testimonies from the last edition and transforms them into a television story designed to retrace the most important moments of the Festival, from the meetings with the stars to the awards ceremonies, up to the artistic performances that animated the Ancient Theatre.

The return to public service also takes on particular significance in the process of relaunching and consolidating the Taormina Film Festival brand, undertaken in recent years.

Bernardo Campo: "A key milestone for the Festival."

This was underlined by the Foundation's extraordinary commissioner, Bernardo Campo , according to whom the return to Rai constitutes concrete confirmation of the event's growth and the work done on its positioning.

" Being able to see the Taormina Film Festival again on Rai channels, with a 75-minute special broadcast on Rai2, represents not only a fundamental milestone, but also tangible confirmation of the relaunch and strong positioning undertaken by the Foundation, which in recent years has seen an extraordinary increase in the value and attractiveness of the Festival's brand ," Campo declared.

A path that, according to the Special Commissioner, finds its main confirmation in the results achieved by the 72nd edition and in the visibility the event has gained beyond regional and national borders.

The international visibility of the 72nd edition

Campo directly linked the return to television to the 2026 edition's ability to gain significant international media exposure.

" This relaunch is the direct result of the excellent results achieved with the 72nd edition, which enjoyed enormous global visibility ," explained the Special Commissioner.

The presence of names like Helen Mirren, Russell Crowe, and Jane Campion has helped strengthen the Festival's international vocation and its role in the calendar of cinematic events hosted in Italy.

The return to public television also looks to the next editions

For the Foundation, however, the broadcast on Rai2 represents not only the story of what happened last June, but also a starting point for the future growth of the event.

" Bringing the Festival back to state television gives further impetus to this process of valorization, projecting the heritage of images, encounters, and great stories experienced at the Ancient Theatre to an ever-wider national audience and laying solid foundations for future editions ," added Bernardo Campo.

Television visibility can therefore become one of the tools through which to further consolidate the relationship between the Taormina Film Festival, the national public, film operators and international partners.

Cinema and music together in the setting of the Ancient Theatre

The Rai2 special won't be exclusively dedicated to cinema. Ample space will also be given to music , which during the Festival was an important component of the entertainment offered to audiences at the Ancient Theatre.

Among the protagonists is Tony Renis , who was awarded the Taormina Film Festival Career Music Award , a recognition dedicated to his long career and his contribution to music and entertainment.

Renis represents one of the most significant points of connection between the worlds of music and cinema, two universes that the Sicilian event has chosen to bring into dialogue during its evenings.

Giusy Ferreri awarded the Best Music Award

Among the artists present was Giusy Ferreri , winner of the Taormina Film Festival Best Music Award . Her performances, along with the other musical moments, enriched the festival's program, helping to transform the evenings into true spectacles.

The presence of music has thus expanded the traditional film festival formula, combining previews, screenings, and meetings with actors and directors with moments capable of engaging a wider audience.

All this takes place within the framework of the Ancient Theatre, a defining feature of the Festival and a setting that has hosted some of the world's greatest entertainers over the years.