Agreement Reached Over Cinema Funds
After the Government’s withdrawal of the "Salvage Cinema" Decree, which will expire on October 17, an agreement has been reached in the Senate with a newly drafted law that does not contain further spending for the state and which draws on essentially only the first article of the decree, which allows for the unfreezing of funds for films the Ministry of Culture deemed to be of “national cultural interest” for 2005.
This presents a ray of hope for many renowned names of Italian cinema, such as Marco Bellocchio, who is working on his latest film, Il regista di matrimoni, as well as Daniele Luchetti (Vita scriteriata), Ermanno Olmi (I cento chiodi), Marco Risi (Maradona la mano di Dio), Gabriele Lavia (Liolà), Carlo Lizzani (Hotel Meina) and numerous debut filmmakers.
"If the measure is approved, it will be possible to minimize the problems created by the non-conversion of the decree," commented Minister of Culture Rocco Buttiglione, who last Sunday launched an appeal to all the political leaders. The film companies associated with ANICA (Italian Association of Cinematographic Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries) are satisfied with the decision and give credit to Minister Buttiglione "for having worked to salvage an extremely grave situation, rendered all the more dramatic by the announced cuts to cinema and the entertainment industry in the 2006 Finance Law." Cuts that the entertainment industry continues resolutely to protest, including with the scheduled general strike to be held October 14 in Rome.
(Translated from Italian)
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