29/06/2006

The new board of directors of Cinecittà Holding, renewed last December, lasted only six months, and just three months after the elections that brought the centre-left coalition to power in Italy.

Yesterday, Minister of Culture Francesco Rutelli revoked the board of directors of the Holding and appointed Director General of Cinema of the Ministry, Gaetano Blandini, the company’s single administrator for one month. These decisions were announced yesterday at the company’s assembly by Vice President Rutelli himself, who then held a press conference.

"We are not interested in a wild spoils system,” said Rutelli, “but when political administrations and directions change, the people in charge of carrying out the new political agendas change as well. We will put forth our choices at the end of July".

Minister Rutelli made use of the law that allows the government to orient public associations and companies through ad hoc nominations, issuing a ten-point directive that deals with certain critical arguments.

These include the never-realized objectives established in the preceding directive of November 2005, the deep conflicts among the board of directors and with the Istituto Luce subsidiaries, the implementation of projects not provided for by the law, such as the creation of a thematic channel and a hotel for film crews, and the losses of the Mediaport subsidiary (which manages a group of multiplex cinemas).

Blandini is now faced with the task of considering a new organizational structure, in accordance with the Minister’s directive. "Cinecittà Holding will have to procure resources for the single objective of offering services and support to the Italian film industry", concluded Rutelli.

Massimo Condemi, who from yesterday is no longer the Cinecittà Holding CEO, is disappointed and threatening to appeal to the courts: "The Minister has caused significant image damage with a directive full of inaccuracies and exploitation. This is a true insult to my professionalism, because I did not put Mediaport, which was a source of losses, up for sale, but initiated projects that went against state welfarism, and foresaw an improvement of the assets: the thematic channel would have provided revenue of €1-3m, and the hotel at least €1.5m for rental of the area".

The former president of Cinecitta' Holding, Carlo Fuscagni, thinks it is only natural that the new government is proposing a new direction, yet confirms that "the management of recent years of Cinecitta' Holding – and not only my own – was full of innovation. The structure was currently stronger and aimed at new objectives. We began projects that can be continued. Cinecittà is very much thriving and I am sure it can offer great surprises in the future".

(Translated from Italian)