Italian Cinema Worldwide roundtable in Venice from Media Salles

Presentation in Venice of the MEDIA Salles’ new initiative “Italian Cinema Worldwide”

Greater cohesion between the various components of the film’s life cycle, in order to reach shared objectives: this is what was demanded by many at Venice in Cinecittà Holding’s “Spazio Cinema Incontri”, during the round table presenting the special issue of MEDIA Salles’ Newsletter “European Cinema Journal” (hereattached), devoted to the initiative Italian Cinema Worldwide, for the promotion of Italian cinema at the most important international meetings of exhibitors.

“In the last few years – said MEDIA Salles’ President Domenico Dinoia – Italian cinema has been able to count on a generation of extremely valid directors and on some excellent titles. But, like European cinema in general, it needs space and this is why Europe’s exhibitors must be made more sensitive to it”.

“Teamwork” was the slogan of Giovanni Galoppi, President of AIP-Filmitalia, who emphasised the importance of “working together – producers, distributors, directors, actors, exhibitors – towards a common objective: to sell Italian cinema worldwide”. “It isn’t sufficient to take our films to the international markets – commented Elda Ferri, who was awarded the MEDIA Salles’ award as “European Producer of the Year” in Amsterdam last June –. We also need to locate our interlocutors abroad, to attract more attention to our films from foreign distributors”. “This is why – echoed Adriana Chiesa, Chief Executive Officer of AIP-Filmitalia – we have to change our strategies. For example, it would be very important to provide at least one free subtitled copy to distributors in countries whose economic resources are limited”. Chiesa also thanked MEDIA Salles for its promotional initiatives: “everything that can be done to persuade exhibitors to put European films into their programming is vital on markets that are sometimes even closed towards their own domestic productions, so strong is the presence of American films”. Competition from US productions was also confirmed by Eva Zaoralová, Artistic Director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, who emphasised, however, the importance of “intensifying contacts with those distributors to be found in Eastern Europe who are fans of quality cinema and interested in European, and particularly Italian, products”.

Collaboration and continuity are the two values emphasised by Alessandro Usai, General Manager of Cinecittà Holding: “MEDIA Salles is among the very few who regularly collect detailed information on the cinema and movie theatres in Europe. And, most important, it has been doing this continuously for almost 15 years. This constancy – continued Usai – brings added value to the work of data collection in a field that is in perpetual motion, like that of the cinema. For us, having just concluded the White Book on Italian cinema, MEDIA Salles’ contribution is essential”.

At the end of the session, the Secretary General of MEDIA Salles, Elisabetta Brunella, announced the 2006 edition of the course "DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for European Cinemas”, which will be held in Kuurne, Belgium, from 5 to 9 April, at the Barco headquarters: “an event devoted to the question of digital screening, of great current interest to the European exhibitors it addresses and with whom it has already reaped success in previous editions”.

More information on the course, together with the enrolment form, will soon be available on the MEDIA Salles’ website www.mediasalles.it.


The next stages in the "Italian Cinema Worldwide" initiative:
- Kino Expo, Moscow, CIS, 13-16 September 2005;
- ShowEast, Orlando, United States, 24-27 October 2005;
- CineAsia, Beijing, China, 13-15 December 2005.