On 30 August, Cinecittà’s Internationalisation Department confirmed the launch of a new €1 million annual scheme to support co-productions between Italy and Latin American countries, with Spain and Portugal also included in the initiative. The announcement was made at the Italian Pavilion during the Venice Film Festival.

In detail, the call will operate through two funding lines: €800,000 earmarked for co-productions and €200,000 dedicated to project development. For development, contributions may reach up to €50,000 per project, while support for co-productions goes up to €200,000, with the possibility of doubling the amount to €400,000 for exceptional projects of particular relevance.

The mechanism builds on the know-how gained through Italy’s long-term participation in the Ibermedia programme, which the country recently left, a move already announced during this year’s Cannes Film Festival. In particular, the scheme’s structure is intended to be simpler and more efficient than Ibermedia’s. The key requirements are the signing of a co-production agreement and the submission of a letter of endorsement from the film institute of the partner country. This guarantees transparency and official recognition of the project.

“This is the only requirement that we have made slightly stricter,” explained Roberto Stabile, head of Internationalisation at Cinecittà/DGCA, “because, not being able to have a full overview of the entire foreign territory, it is essential for us that transparency and security are guaranteed in this way.”

Applications will be evaluated by a commission including one representative from the Directorate General for Cinema, one from Cinecittà, and two independent internationalisation experts with no conflicts of interest. At this stage, the call will remain permanently open, without any fixed submission windows, in order to avoid the long waiting times that characterised Ibermedia.

“When we drafted the call,” continued Stabile, “we followed two lines of thought. The first was to establish windows and dates, and the other was to leave it open. We all know that one of the problems with Ibermedia was the fact that the commission met only once a year; a single call was opened, and this made the activity somewhat complicated.

“This is a flexible call, designed to simplify producers’ lives and make access to funds easier. We’re ready to make adjustments along the way in order to make it increasingly useful for the sector,” he concluded.