We met with Luigi Sales, Head of Content and Original Productions for Giffoni Innovation Hub, on the occasion of the most recent Giffoni Film Festival (running 17-26 July). His work unfolds at the crossroads of creativity, audiovisual production and strategic planning for brands and institutions alike. Offering up documentaries, edutainment and new audiovisual formats, Sales chatted with us about the industrial side of this initiative which places young people and their language centre stage.

Cineuropa: Could you tell us about your role and the main activities of Giffoni Innovation Hub?
Luigi Sales: I’m Head of Content and Original Productions. On the one hand, I take care of the editorial and productive side of things, from researching stories to choosing film directors and directors of photography. On the other hand, when the project comes from a brand, an agency or an institution, I oversee dialogue with the client and creative content development. Giffoni Innovation Hub is a communications and marketing agency but it’s first and foremost a production company which helps clients tell their stories using original and innovative language. We don’t make adverts, we make original content, entertainment or edutainment projects.

Could you give us a few recent examples?
We’ve just made a documentary for the University of Tor Vergata about the PROBEN project, which is focused on university students’ mental health. And soon we’ll be presenting a short film with Unicredit about the relationship between financial coercion and gender-based violence. We’ve worked with ITA Airways on future mobility and we’ve developed a comic book with Erion to make young people aware of how electronic equipment is disposed of. We work with big corporate partners who want to connect with new generations using unconventional language.

Do these agencies contact you or do you approach them with projects?
Both. We’re based in Milan and Rome, with account and sales managers who present our activities to potential clients, whether corporations or institutions. To some extent, we’ve taken our experience of the Giffoni Film Festival and made a creative agency out of it.

Going back to the project with the University of Tor Vergata, how did it come about?
It all began when I met Alberto and Cinzia Siracusano when they came to Giffoni last year to present a book. They told us about their investigation into students’ mental health. That’s where the idea to present the project in a documentary format came about, and we also devised an experiential installation: we installed booths around the university where students could express themselves freely, in a confessional style. We gathered over 50 hours of footage, and it gave rise to a documentary which was about 30 minutes long called Mindfulness Room – Un’indagine sul benessere psicofisico della Gen Z, directed by Emanuele Pisano.

Do you only work on in-house projects or do you also make co-productions?
We often make co-productions, with both small and big production companies. Besides producing on behalf of third parties, we’re also continuing to develop our editorial capacity. For example, we produced a feature-length documentary telling the story of paraplegic athlete Ambra Sabatini, released in cinemas as a special event. We’ve also benefitted from selective aid and support from the Film Commission Campania to write our next film. We always place a special focus on Generation Z in our work.

You also launched a format called Avrei Questa Idea last year, is that right?
Yes, it’s a touring format: we select young screenwriters who tell us their ideas for films or series. The first season was led by Valerio Lundini and Edoardo Ferrario, the second is in collaboration with The Jackal collective. We’ve also announced the creation of a matchmaking platform in this year’s festival, where youngsters can upload stories and screenplays, devised to facilitate meetings between new talent and production companies.

Will third-party producers also be able to access the platform?
Absolutely. The idea is to create a kind of “LinkedIn for the audiovisual world”, specifically for young screenwriters. Not everyone uses LinkedIn, so we’ve devised a space where they can upload their own projects and receive support. An AI tool will help them create pitch decks or posters, for example. AI can’t replace talent, but it can help to present it more favourably.

Have you also worked with international partners?
Yes, we involved an English co-producer called Black Box in the documentary about Ambra Sabatini. But, generally speaking, the projects we make with agencies are primarily geared towards the Italian market. One exception was a work we made for Stellantis, which was produced in English for global distribution.

And how can producers get in touch if they’re interested in collaborating with you?
There’s a variety of ways: they can meet with us at industry events, such as the Giffoni Film Festival, Venice or other sector gatherings. Potential partners sometimes write to us directly, or they come to us via referrals. We’re sent a lot of ideas, and we don’t always manage to read all of them. That’s another reason why we created the platform, in order to provide a more structured channel for young authors and so as to facilitate matchmaking between talent and production companies.