02/05/2014 - The co-production meeting by the Alto Adige Film Commission this year pointed to new business models and on the French industry as inspiration for co-productions

At the same time as the Bolzano Cinema Festival, on 10-12 April, the fourth edition of INCONTRI took place in Alto Adige. The co-production meeting was organised by the Film Commission of Südtirol- Alto Adige and took place in the medieval castle, now Hotel Korb in Appiano. Around 60 representatives from the cinema and television industry attended, including producers, broadcasters and financiers coming from Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland in order to exchange notes on the current market conditions, as well as hopes for the future.

The first panel, “Moving closer: France as muse”, was centred around the analysis of the French system as an inspiration for co-productions between Italy and German speaking countries. “Public funding in France is among the most sophisticated in Europe,” Roberto Olla, the moderator of the panel, explained, trying to grasp what could be learned from the model.

Bettina Brokemper from the German production company Heimatfilm explained that “in France, production companies are very careful, have great influence and have reached important objectives, specifically when it comes to television channels,” which, as Olla explained “are expected to invest in independent cinema (in proportion to their output), and they therefore protect French producers.”

“There are fixed rates for rights acquisition. The system is very transparent,” Brokemper continued, “just like a small production company can sell their product at the same rate as a well-established production company, with the obligation of producers filming in French however, within a system of language protection.”   

Cecilia Valmarana from Rai Cinema underlined the important role of the Cannes film festival within the entire cinema system: “it also lifts up Italian talents like Moretti and Sorrentino. They make them grow and they get them to participate in events various times. That unites their films to the French market and means they are involved with co-productions.”  

This year’s programme also included a discussion on Tax Credit and the opportunities offered up by the credit system tied to cinema funding, which might be a good incentive for foreign production companies who might consider filming in Italy. Oliver Schündler, producer for German Lucky Bird Pictures, said it was very interested in the Tax Credit, a system it found to be effective and “an ideal combination with funding offered by the BLS.”

During the panel, a few projects supported by the BLS were raised: German Georg Elser – Es muss sein! by production company Lucky Bird Pictures, Fuori Mira by Swiss Ventura Film and Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Austrian Allegro Film. The last film also involved Italian Cattleya benefitting from the Tax Credit, as told by Marco Chimenz. “The experience of our production company with the Tax Credit was a very positive one. We followed a few foreign productions, which used it. Among those, Das finstere Tal, filmed in Alto Adige, and we also saw the ways in which mechanisms are automatic and difficult to understand.”

Chimenz also recorded other points in favour of the Tax Credit, including “its recent permanent definition and its probable future extension for television productions.”  

(Translated from Italian)