Taormina 2026 Winners: Jane Campion-Led Jury Fetes Turkish Drama ‘Hear The Yellow’

Turkish director Banu Sıvacı’s film Hear The Yellow swept the board at the 72nd Taormina Film Festival on Sunday, winning best film, director, actor and actress in ex-aequo.

This year’s jury was presided over by Jane Campion, who was accompanied by The Piano actress Holly Hunter, costume designer Miyako Bellizzi (Marty Supreme), casting director Francine Maisler (Sinners), director Akinola Davies Jr.(My Father’s Shadow), Amazon MGM Studios Head of Global Marketing, Film, Series Sue Kroll, and Italian star Pietro Castellitto (The Predators).

Hear the Yellow, which world premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year, stars Sevla Erdener as a singer who returns to her drought-stricken village from Istanbul, to discover both her family and home in a fragile state.

Aside from best film, Sivaci won best director while Erdener shared best actress prize with Italian actress Greta Scarano for her performance in social romcom Piccolo Miracolo, as a fiercely independent blind woman who finds love in an unaccepted place.

“This is a film that moved all of us a lot. We really appreciated it. It was complex, it was poetic. The performances were universally really great and interesting,” said Campion.

“Over time my mind kept coming back to this film because it has a sort of mystery. It has an intoxicating quality with the way that the landscape worked with the story, with the mystery and with the family politics that were complex.”

“The lead actress was a singer who comes back from Istanbul to the country town and you know, the politics of that being stirred up and inheritance and fortunes and you’ve just got to see the buffaloes in this film and how the actors interact with them. It’s just very, very strong, very enchanting.”

In a newly introduced prizes for emerging acting talents, Berfin Sönmez won best emerging actress for her performance in German drama Gropiusstadt Supernova by Ben Voit, and best emerging actor went to Tut Nyuot for this performance in Animol.

Ten films were showcased in competition with the other titles including Roya by Mahnaz Mohammadi, The Leader by Michael Gallagher,  Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die by Gore Verbinski, Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala, Erica by Taro Miyaokaand  and La Calle Pura by Alfredo Chiarappa.

“We were all unanimous in the decision but I think there were wonderful movies… we just really appreciated seeing films from different countries and in different languages. That was such a highlight. It was a joy to get to talk about these movies together, with peers,” said Maisler.

In peripheral l prizes, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die won the youth jury award, the Cariddino d’Oro, while Guido Chiesa’s Piccolo Miracolo was given a Cariddino special mention.

The prize is decided under the auspices of the Campus Giovani, featuring 25 young jurors, in partnership with the local branches of film industry guilds Anec and Agis. The ARCA prize for best short film out of competition went to Fabio Schifilliti’s Fili Invisibili.

The prizes will be meted out at tonight’s closing ceremony in Taormina’s Ancient Greek amphitheater. It will wrap a whirlwind five-days in which a raft of international and local stars have touched down in Taormina, topped by Helen Mirren and Russell Crowe, with other highlights including the opening night with a special preview of season 3 of House of the Dragon.