18/05/2008

"Four films at the Cannes Film Festival is an important sign. The film industry is getting back on track. The job of the Minister of Culture is to reinforce this process, consolidate the results achieved to date and contribute to this rebirth,” said Sandro Bondi, who took over the ministry just 10 days ago, in an interview during Cannes with Italian daily Il Giornale on his ideas for supporting Italian cinema.

"For the first time in a long time,” continued Bondi, “we can look at the financial state of Italian film with a reasonable amount of hope – we no longer need to speak of a crisis. The number of Italian at Cannes "is confirmation that the spring of Italian cinema, which began in 2007, continues to bear results. Italian film has garnered, like in 2007, a consistent share of the market and finally defined by a solid differentiation of product, stories and genres".

Bondi thus promised to "continue along the same lines set by previous ministers, after certain financial incentives [the tax credit] are introduced in the 2008 budget, such as those that already exist in other European countries".

However, Bondi also says he is convinced "that the system of public funding from the Ministry of Culture, albeit necessary, must be revised. The current mechanism focuses on financing the production of worthwhile screenplays, but is lacking when it comes to supporting pre-production and idea development, and equally deficient in supporting distribution".

(Translated from Italian)