Amber Heard’s First Film After Johnny Depp Trial Is “Beautiful,” Says Director Who Praises Her

Following the defamation case against Johnny Depp, Amber Heard is now finally able to move on in her career. The premiere of the actress’s latest film, In the Fire, was held at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, Italy, on June 24, per ET Canada. Heard wore a stunning black gown, accessorizing with a curled hairdo and vibrant red lipstick.

Heard told PEOPLE, “It’s a beautiful movie about the almost supernatural effect and force of love. It is about the boundaries that love can cross and its creation, and really about the overwhelming power that love has. I don’t want to sound cheesy about it, but it’s a movie about love.”

A synopsis of the movie reads, “Set in 1899, the film follows a 38-year-old American psychiatrist as she arrives on a rich farm in Colombia after being called to solve the case of a disturbed child following increasingly insistent accusations that the child is the devil,” a synopsis reads. “While the woman tries to psychoanalyze the child, the nefarious events intensify, and her ‘cure’ becomes a race to save the little boy from the fury of his fellow citizens, and perhaps, even from himself,” the synopsis adds.

“Amber has an incredibly bright future ahead,” the director of In The Fire, Connor Allyn, told PEOPLE at the Taormina Film Festival. “I think In the Fire showcases her talents as an actor. I know this is something she is very proud of, and it’s something we are very excited to release to the public.”

The director beamed with pride at Heard as he added, “I think it will be a great opportunity for her to have something beyond the trial and stuff to talk about and to be a platform for a hell of a comeback.”

Allyn can foresee Heard in a directorial role eventually. “As a director, I never look for more competition than there already is. But Amber has the ability and the intelligence and the charisma to direct or to write if she wants to,” he says. “There are a lot of different talents involved in making a movie ... but most of all, you need to be able to tell a story, to find the interesting elements, whether it is in the character or the story as a whole, and to understand the entirety of what’s happening. And she gets that,” says Allyn. “I can see her directing.”

Heard’s legal battle with her ex-husband Depp culminated in a widely publicized defamation trial last year, and “In the Fire” marks her first movie since that time. She consented to a $1 million settlement, which Depp later claimed had been divided among five organizations earlier this month. This year’s upcoming film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will also feature the actress.