All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 19
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Bim chief awarded France's Chevalier des Arts et Lettres
Valerio De Paolis, head of Italian arthouse distribution outfit Bim, has been awarded one of France's highest cultural honours for tirelessly promoting French culture in Italy through the distribution of dozens of Gallic films.De Paolis will receive the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et Lettres award in Paris on Monday January ...
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Ex-bank manager tipped as Biennale president
It is proving to be a very busy week for Italy's cultural minister, Giuliano Urbani: Today (Jan 15), he is expected to name ex-bank manager Davide Croff as the new president of the Biennale, the organization that runs the Venice Film Festival, and on Friday he will present to Parliament ...
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Italian video market posts strong gains in 2003
Italy's home entertainment market had a booming year in 2003 thanks partly to a successful battle against piracy and to the strength of DVDs, national home video organisation Univideo said on Wednesday.According to Univideo's latest figures, the Italian home entertainment sector registered a turnover of Euros 697m in 2003, as ...
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ITALY
Leonardo Pieraccioni's Italian comedy, Il Paradiso All'Improvviso confirmed its position as the festive season's top blockbuster last weekend, as it grossed a further $2,578,778 bringing its total earnings to a massive $28,934,933.The Medusa comedy, about a bachelor searching for his soul-mate, recorded an impressive screen average of $6,399 on its ...
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New films from high-profile Italian directors
For full Italian production listings click HEREMarking the first concrete steps in Vittorio Cecchi Gori's long-awaited comeback, the troubled film mogul currently has two films lined up for 2004.Currently in post-production is a new project by popular Roman actor-director Carlo Verdone entitled Love Is Eternal - For As Long ...
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Uncertainty prolonged over Venice directorship
It may be the start of 2004 but in aserious case of deja vu, a question mark is still hanging in the air over whowill direct the next Venice Film Festival in seven months' time.Yesterday (Jan 7), in what can only beinterpreted as a half-hearted compromise, the Venice Biennale's outgoing ...
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ITALY
Christmas blockbuster Natale In India (literally, Christmas In India) has once again demonstrated the money-spinning value of Aurelio De Laurentiis's 20-year-old franchise of low-brow comedies, as it posted total earnings of $23,021,125 three weeks after its release.Distributed by Filmauro and starring Christian De Sica and Massimo Boldi, Natale In ...
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Italian gov't prepares to unveil Venice board overhaul
Italian culture minister Giuliano Urbani has announced that he will name the Venice Biennale's new board of directors and president before January 6th - although it now looks increasingly unlikely that either Biennale president Franco Bernabe' or artistic director Moritz de Hadeln will be reappointed to helm the next Venice ...
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Italian industry denounces Venice political interference
Italy's national association of independent film directors and producers, API, has released a strongly worded statement denouncing political interference in the Venice Film Festival. API also urged Biennale president Franco Bernabe' not to resign from his position.API's move comes after culture minister Giuliano Urbani failed to reconfirm Venice artistic director ...
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Mifed owners unveil strategic overhaul
As part of its drive to reinvigorate Mifed and save it from the onslaught of AFM, Fiera Milano International (FMI), the body that manages Mifed, has announced that it has officially joined forces with Cinecitta Holding and created a new company named Audiovisual Industry Promotion that will run the event ...
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ITALY
As Italy prepares to unleash its lengthy line-up of Christmas releases on Friday 19th December, the top five films at the Italian box office remained the same for the second consecutive weekend.The real surprise came from Lost In Translation and The Barbarian Invasions, whose takings increased respectively by 46% and ...
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De Hadeln's Venice future hangs in balance
A serious question mark is currently hanging over the head of Moritz De Hadlen's position as artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, after the Italian Parliament approved a new statute for the Venice Biennale, the body that manages the event on the Lido.Culture minister Giuliano Urbani, who is known ...
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Blow for Berlusconi as Italian president rejects media law
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been dealt a serious blow after Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi unexpectedly refused to sign his government's controversial new media law. The Gasparri law had already been approved this month by both the Italian Parliament and the Italian Senate, where Berlusconi's centre-right coalition has ...
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Aurelio De Laurentiis re-elected president of Italian producers
Filmauro head Aurelio De Laurentiis has been re-elected president of Italy's union of film producers for a second two-year term.Seven vice-presidents were also elected: these are Filiberto Bandini, Giovanni Bertolucci, (Facing Windows) Tilde Corsi, Filmexport's Roberto Di Girolamo, Rai Cinema's Giancarlo Leone, Medusa's Giampaolo Letta and Cattleya's Riccardo Tozzi."Over the ...
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Italian film producers threaten to shut pay-TV window
In an ultimate bid to get a reaction out of pay-TV outfit Sky Italia, Italy's national union of independent film producers and directors (API) warned that it could, in future, by-pass the pay-TV window altogether and sell films to free-to-air broadcasters before selling pay-TV rights. Heads of Rai Cinema and ...
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Lucky Red picks up Tavernier's Lola
Roman arthouse distributor Lucky Red has acquired all Italian distribution rights to two new films, including veteran French director Bertrand Tavernier's upcoming movie, Holly Lola.Sold by TF1 International, Holly Lola is about a French couple who are trying to adopt a child in Cambodia, a former French territory. The film, ...
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Berlusconi defends controversial media law
Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has publicly defended the controversial new media law which is set to consolidate his sprawling media empire in an inflammatory press conference, where he pointed out that it will prevent 1,000 people from losing their jobs at one of his Mediaset TV channels.The Gasparri Law, which ...
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ITALY
Sofia Coppola's Oscar hopeful Lost In Translation opened on a high at the Italian box office, scoring the weekend's second highest screen average after BVI's Finding Nemo with a superb $6,250 per screen.On its first release in a major international territory, the Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen picture, which screened ...
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Muccino unveils coming of age project
Hot Italian director Gabriele Muccino, whose latest film Remember Me will screen at the upcoming Sundance festival, has announced that his next project will focus on an 18-year-old Italian girl's coming-of-age experience.Named Il Viaggio di Sofia (literally, Sofia's Voyage), Muccino said his new film will be about "an 18-year-old girl's ...
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Former-Venice chiefs plan meeting to 'defend' event's autonomy
Felice Laudadio, the former Venice Film Festival director who is now head of the Taormina film festival, has announced that all the ex-directors of the prestigious event on the Lido will hold a special meeting on Saturday to "defend the autonomy of the Biennale."Those expected to attend the conference will ...