Amber Heard to Make First Major Appearance Since Johnny Depp Trial at Film Festival in Italy

Amber Heard is returning to the red carpet.

On Saturday, Deadline reported that Heard, 37, is expected to appear at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, Italy on June 24 for the world premiere of her new movie In The Fire.
The premiere will mark Heard’s first appearance promoting a movie since the end of the defamation trial brought against her by her ex-husband Johnny Depp. The trial ended June 1, 2022, when a seven-person jury reached a verdict that largely sided with Depp, 60, though Heard won one of her three defamation counterclaims.
Heard is expected to be in attendance in Sicily for In The Fire’s premiere along with its director Conor Allyn and her costar Eduardo Noriego, according to Deadline.

Representatives for Heard and the Taormina Film Festival did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment Monday.

An official synopsis for the movie available on the festival’s website says that In The Fire follows a widowed American psychiatrist who “arrives in a rich farm in Colombia after being called to solve the case of a disturbed child,” whose mother is concerned by a local priest’s accusation that the child is possessed by the devil.

“When the doctor arrives, she discovers that the boy’s mother is dead and that the father himself has begun to believe in the possible possession of the child,” the synopsis reads.

Heard, who relocated to Madrid, Spain months after the defamation trial ended, was recently seen answering questions from local reporters in Spanish in a brief video that circulated on TikTok.

“I love Spain so much,” Heard told the reporters in Spanish in the video. “When they asked if she plans on staying, she replied, “Yes, I hope so. Yes, I love living here.” As she said goodbye to the people filming her, the actress said, “I hope you are well, ciao. And thank you, nice to meet you.”

After being asked if she has movie projects on the horizon, she confirmed that she does, adding, “I move on. That’s life.”

In The Fire is not the only film project Heard has on the horizon — she is expected to return as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which opens in theaters in December. Heard appeared in a trailer for the film shown at at CinemaCon 2023 that has not yet been released to the public.
A source previously told PEOPLE that Heard “couldn’t wait to leave the U.S. with her daughter” after the trial. Heard, who is mom to 2-year-old daughter Oonagh Paige, “has been living in Spain, where she gets more privacy,” said the source.
“The trial was beyond stressful for her and she just wanted to start fresh out of the country,” the source added. “She is excited about working and filming again. She was exhausted and disappointed about the trial. She felt she was mistreated. This is all behind her now, though.”

Heard revealed in December that she had reached a settlement and dropped their appeals to the Virginia verdict, writing at the time that she felt it was “an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to.”
Depp’s first movie since the trial, Jeanne Du Barry, made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France last month.
The 69th Taormina Film Festival runs from June 23 to July 1.

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