04/12/2002 - Study into Italian film exports, solutions include co-productions, networking & controls

Just a handful of Italian films is in circulation in Europe's most important markets. This is nothing to do with the characteristics and quality of the films but rather with the fragility of the distribution process. These are some of the findings of a survey entitled “Films Without Frontiers. The Trials and Tribulations of Italian Cinema Abroad”, carried out by Professor Severino Salvemini of Milan’s Bocconi University, and funded by the BNL, the financial institution that is specialised in providing financial support for the Italian film and audiovisual sector, and a partner of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Bocconi report also makes a number of suggestions for future strategies.
The goal of the Bocconi Report was a critical analysis of the international impact and profile of Italia cinema and the future prospects for expansion. “The report concludes by making a number of suggestions that we hope will help Italian industry operators to be more professional in their business dealings. The goal is to double the number of Italian films sold abroad: currently that number stands at 10 per cent while other European countries have already achieved this result,” said Salvemini.
The report is a painstaking analysis of the recent performance of Italian films in those markets that are most receptive to them like France, Spain and Germany, and it contains a wealth of data that none of Italy’s producers’ or distributors’ associations has ever supplied. The report's findings included the interesting fact that Belgian distributors were the most successful at accessing grants from the Media II Programme, followed by their German and Spanish colleagues. Furthermore, co-productions received 48 per cent of EU funding. Over the last three years only 6 Italian films have received Media Programme funding.
The Bocconi Report makes the following suggestions: increasing the number of co-productions; constant observation and analysis of the role of film exporters; the creation of a plan of a 3-year plan of action setting a precise budget and aiming for specific results, with support from the Italian ministries for culture, foreign affairs, and foreign trade institute – ICE. “We are currently strengthening the methods used for circulating Italian films abroad,” said Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani at the presentation of the Bocconi Report. Urbani indicated a number of possible strategies that include opening up to the world’s growing markets like Russia and China, lightening fiscal pressure on co-productions and the creation of a network of European theatres specialised in programming quality European films.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)