After years of what can be perceived as an Italian crisis of its films performing internationally, it appears that the crisis is ending and Italian films are on the uptick again, along with coproductions that have been rising after a dip caused by the pandemic.
According to ANICA, the Italian association of film industries, 118 Italian films were distributed in the international markets in 2021, up from 98 in each of the previous two years, and 72 in 2018. Similarly, the volume of coproductions has soared from 14 million euros in 2019 to 60 million euros in 2021. Italy is determined to recreate the golden era of coproductions and the era when Italian films dominated the market, second only to Hollywood. And they are determined to do even better this time around.
“Every day we had international meetings with other countries [at Berlin],” Roberto Stabile, the man in charge of the Special Projects Office of the Directorate General of Cinema at Cinecittà told The Film Verdict’s own Matt Micucci in an interview on TFV’s Showcast.
Stabile took on the title of Head of ANICA’s international relations last year, but he had already been working relentlessly toward a new golden era – something that has contributed greatly to the current positive trends.
In its first year of activity, the Special Projects Office organized a series of multifaceted events around the world with the main objective of boosting the distribution of Italian movies abroad in established markets, and opening new markets in places like India and China where Italian films aren’t historically as well-known as they are in Europe or North America. To attract foreign distributors, the Italian government is luring them with a 30% coverage of the cost of promotion and advertisement (P&A) when they buy an Italian product.
The office has also been very busy promoting new international coproductions with both old and new partners, and equally as important, promoting the Italian territory as a cost-effective and incredibly attractive set for foreign productions – a set that doesn’t just come with unmatched expertise, historic lure, and good food and wine, but also with some very handsome government funds and tax credits.
The Italian Pavilion at the European Film Market is just one of the many such pavilions that Stabile’s office has been organizing across the globe with many in-person events for those attending the market, and an online version (www.italianpavilion.it) for those who are not. Similar events were organized last year at the Marché du Film in Cannes; at the Venice Film Festival; at the Sunny Side of the Doc documentary marketplace in La Rochelle, France; and at the Bogotá Audiovisual Market, to name a few.
Then there are the Focus On events, where the focus can be on coproductions, distribution, or both. Focus On France was clearly important in 2022 as the two countries have a long history of legendary coproductions that were very successful in their respective countries as well as international markets (mostly western), but which in recent years have decreased somewhat. The meetings in Paris last September produced five negotiations that are ongoing. The Italians and the French also discussed common strategies in support of distribution and theatricals – something for which the industry workers in both countries feel there is a strong need in face of the unexpectedly fast advent of the digital as one of the consequences of the pandemic and the lockdowns. Regarding the digital, Stabile organized a meeting two years ago in Matera which he hopes to turn into some sort of Davos of the digital world, where top thinkers gather to discuss and understand the trends and draw up solutions so as not to get caught unprepared by a fast-evolving sector that caught everyone by surprise with its exponential growth during the pandemic. He is working to hold a second edition with experts from the United States, France, and Italy, and perhaps others too.
Stabile told TFV that of all the Focus On events, it was the one in India that surprised him most. “The best reaction, which was also unexpected, was in India,” he told our Matt Macucci, who asked him how the events had been received locally. “We traveled all around India where we found an Italian embassy or just a small consulate, and it was amazing to see how many people came to watch Italian movies.” (The Ufficio Progetti Speciali works closely with the Italian embassies to organize these events.)
Stabile said he was surprised to see how popular the Italian film screening events were, given that he had previously deemed India to be “one of the hardest countries” to penetrate because they produce a lot of local films that cater specifically to the Indian moviegoers’ tastes. “The reaction of the public was amazing in India,” he said, commenting on the success of the event that goes by the name of Italian Screens.
South America is yet another market that the Italians are striving to reenter – a market where Italian films had performed very well in the past, but which Stabile said they lost in recent years. And then there is China and the rest of southeast Asia – all new territories for Italian cinema – that need to be cracked open. That operation will start later this year, according to Stabile, though some work was already done in 2022 in China, as well as in the Philippines and Thailand. Africa, on the other hand, “is not yet a market for us, but we will try to penetrate that, too,” he said during the podcast interview with TFV. “We will start in March, from South Africa to North Africa.”
One of the next big events, however, will be Italy’s participation as guest of honor at the 38th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico, from June 3 to 9. This is the second time that Italy has been invited as guest of honor, but many years have passed since the previous invitation, making this one feel like a first.
Guadalajara will also mark the return of Italian Screens, a showcase of Italian movies nominated for the country’s most prestigious domestic film awards: the David di Donatello. The purpose of Italian Screens is to build up new audiences and reacquaint old ones with Italian cinema around the world. Stabile said the Italian Screens project was actively supported by Italy’s network of embassies. Last year, in New Delhi the event kicked off with a special screening of the 2021 documentary Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore on Italian composer Ennio Morricone.
In 2023, Italian Screens will return to the places where it was held last year (the United States, India, Germany, Thailand, and Brazil) as well as Albania, China, Colombia, France, the Philippines, Romania, and South Korea.
–Caren Davidkhianan
