21/09/2006

The Lazio Region will participate in the Rome International Film Festival (October 13-21) with a series of initiatives focused on themes such as European co-production, the promotion of new film financing methods, the development of new technology and talent, and greater cultural research and diversity.

A partner of the festival, with a €1.5m investment, the Lazio Region is participating in the event because ''the film festival will have important repercussions on the most important audiovisual territory,” said Piero Marrazzo, president of the region. "This event is building a bridge between those who make films, those who love films and those who go see films, an industry on which we will work through the Film Commission 365 days a year.

The Rome and Lazio Film Commission will debut at the festival, inaugurating a series of meetings and Q&As with industry professionals. Furthermore, on October 18, the meeting “Terre di cinema” (lit. “Film lands”) will take place at the capital, and will be attended by the European regions in which the audiovisual industry represents a development choice. The conference will be also be the occasion for the signing of an agreement between political representatives of the Lazio, Paris’ Ile de France and Berlin’s Brandenburg Regions, in which the financial and organisational resources will be decided for new co-productions made for the European market.

This event will be accompanied by two other important ones. On October 19, as part of the "Locations Tour", foreign directors and producers will have an opportunity to discover the region’s various locations, from villas to castles to the most beautiful countryside in which to create new stories.

The second event will be held on October 20 in collaboration with EUROVISIONI and dedicated to the Italian Coalition for Cultural Diversity, proof of the Lazio Region’s commitment towards the Italian Parliament’s approval of the UNESCO resolution favouring cultural diversity. "We will oversee digital films and their distribution,” said B>Luciana Castellina, Vice President of EUROVISIONI.

(Translated from Italian)