Veteran festival director Marco Mueller was only hired to take over as the artistic director of the Taormina Film Festival in April this year. “I’m stressed out,” he told Variety, two weeks ahead of the festival opening, but he is philosophical. “The history of this island is one of people trying to conquer Sicily, but Sicily has always ended up conquering the conquerors. We are conquered not only by the beauty of the place, but also the local customs, not to mention the food and wine, of course.”

Mueller, who has previously headed the Locarno and the Venice film festivals as well as the Pingyao Film Festival more recently, has a clear vision for the direction he wishes to pursue. “From the moment I signed my contract, I knew I really wanted to go back to the formula that was used in the golden years of the festival, which for me,...