22/06/2015 - An agreement has been signed in Shanghai with the Chinese film theatre network. The Shanghai IFF will include a focus on eight films chosen by the festival and a series of co-production meetings

An agreement has been signed in Shanghai with the Chinese film theatre network Lumière, which will take 10 recent Italian films on a promotional and commercial tour of eight large Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, between July and the end of the year. The agreement, which had strong backing from the president of ANICA Riccardo Tozzi, was made possible by the collaboration of ICE – ITA (the Italian Trade Commission), and will give the ever-growing number of Chinese viewers interested in European culture access to the stories and protagonists of contemporary Italian film. 

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In support of this initiative, which is the first of its kind to be organised in Chinese commercial theatres, the Anica office in Beijing, which has been up and running since 2013, will be organising, in conjunction with the Lumière network, a series of events and press meetings, also kick starting the co-production projects developed in the two dedicated forums held in Beijing (in April) and now in Shanghai.

The collaboration with China began when two groups of Italian producers (of TV and film) travelled to China under the Movie Up programme of the Lazio Region, which was brought about by Anica and the Shanghai branch of ITA. Over the past few days, no fewer than 15 Italian projects have been pitched to Chinese partners in a series of co-production meetings held as part of the Shanghai International Film Festival (13-21 June), at which the Istituto Luce - Cinecittà is holding a focus on new Italian film with eight films selected by the festival.

(Translated from Italian)