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All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 28
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New financing and production company to launch in Italy
A group of international private investors backed by a private UK bank has created a new financing and production company, named Company of Arts.The new Rome-based outfit, which will officially launch in May, already has two projects in the pipeline: Defenceless, a Euros 20m English-language feature film, set in the ...
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Italy's RAI loses president and last board member
After days of political pressure, Antonio Baldassare, president of Italian state broadcaster RAI and final remaining board member Ettore Albertoni have agreed to step down from their positions - paving the way for new executive appointments to be made by Silvio Berlusconi's government.Current RAI management has only been in place ...
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Italian drama heads for box-office glory
Italian director Gabriele Muccino's new film, Remember Me (Ricordati di Me), has grossed a massive $6.8m since its release on February 14th - placing it well on the path to local blockbuster glory. The bitter-sweet drama stars Son's Room actress Laura Morante, Fabrizio Bentivoglio (Teeth), emerging actress Nicoletta Romanov and ...
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Italy mourns the King of Commedia
Legendary Italian actor Alberto Sordi, a figurehead of the Commedia all'Italiana, has died in Rome at the age of 82.With his instantly recognisable thick Roman accent and deep voice, Sordi began his 60-year acting career at the age of 16.He was a symbol of national pride for several generations of ...
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Italy tests product placement as film financing alternative
Rome's Blue Star Movie has sealed a landmark multi-million dollar product placement deal with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, with the multinational agreeing to fund an international short film and potentially a European feature-length picture. Blue Star Movie head Pete Maggi said Johnson & Johnson is investing "over Euros 10m" ...
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Dario Argento set to shoot The Card Player
Cult Italian director Dario Argento is lining up a new thriller, entitled The Card Player. Produced by Medusa, the film starts shooting in March with hot Italian actress Stefania Rocca (Casomai, Resurrection) in the lead role. Worldwide distribution rights are being handled by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises. Argento's last film, Sleepless ...
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Taormina festival plots date change to attract Hollywood
The Taormina film festival is to move one month forward, in a bid to establish the event as a European launch-pad for summer blockbusters. This year's edition will run from June 7 - 14.Ever since he took over the festival's reins in 2000, former Venice director Felice Laudadio (pictured) ...
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Italy reaps multiplex benefits
With multiplexes mushrooming around the country, Italy recorded a healthy 7.8% rise in earnings at the box office in 2002 as total revenue increased to Euros 525m, according to annual data released by Cinetel. Last year, box office revenue stood at Euros 475.6m.Admissions were up 6% to 89.1m compared to ...
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Italy mulls new film censorship law to protect children
Italy plans to establish a new film censorship law, ensuring that no film can be banned from release, and imposing tighter restrictions for children.Currently, a local censorship commission can ban a film from being released altogether at the cinema, and can also restrict viewing to audiences over the age of ...
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Italy to introduce tougher anti-piracy laws
The Italian Parliament has approved a new anti-piracy law that will put behind bars those who use counterfeit smart cards to access pay-TV channels.While anti-piracy legislation already exists in Italy, prison terms had until now been excluded. But now, as legislators attempt to curb the rampant piracy which has caused ...
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Istituto Luce names Andrea Piersanti as new president
Andrea Piersanti has been named the new president of Istituto Luce, the Rome-based state distributor which is also involved in production and exhibition.Piersanti, 44, is currently the president of the catholic entertainment organisation, Ente dello Spettacolo. He replaces Antonio More, who was temporarily appointed after industry veteran Angelo Guglielmi stepped ...
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Ermanno Olmi wraps $9.5m pirate epic
Veteran Italian director Ermanno Olmi (Profession Of Arms) has wrapped shooting on his new Euros 9m epic, Cantando Dietro I Paraventi.The film is the first production to have been shot in part at Roma Studios, the recently renovated studios built by producer Dino De Laurentiis in the 1960s.Based on a ...
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Warner Bros Italia's first local co-production scores at home
Warner Bros. Italia's first local co-production, It Can't Be All Our Fault (Ma Che Colpa Abbiamo Noi), has shot into the number one slot at the Italian box office.Italian director Carlo Verdone's new comedy, Ma Che Colpa Abbiamo Noi (It Can't Be All Our Fault) (pictured) powered into the number ...
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Curtain falls for last cinema in historic Venice
Venice may be home to the world's oldest film festival, but the island is now officially without a single cinema after it drew the curtains on its last two privately-owned screens due to a lack of profit and spectators."It's the end of cinema in Venice, the death of cinema in ...
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Livolsi takes over as Cinecitta boss
Ubaldo Livolsi, financial partner of Rome-based producer Rita Rusic and head of Italian investment bank Livolsi and Partners, has been named managing director of Cinecitta Holding.Last month, veteran Italian director Pupi Avati was appointed president of the state-owned company. Cinecitta Holding is the parent of Rome's legendary studios as well ...
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Italians laugh all the way to box office over bumper Xmas
Italian box office figures over the festive season - the single most lucrative period for the local industry - were up an impressive 14% to Euros78.83m on last year's Xmas results.Importantly, according to local data body Cinetel, homegrown films also beat out stiff competition from Hollwyood (including Harry Potter) to ...
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Italian comedy brings festive local box office cheer
Defying global patterns, Italian comic sensation Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo's new film, The Legend Of Al, John And Jack has knocked Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets off the number one spot at the local box office just one week after its release.The Legend of Al, John And Jack ...
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Avati takes over Cinecitta reins
Veteran Italian director Pupi Avati has been namedpresident of Cinecitta Holding, the parent company of the famed Rome-basedCinecitta Studios where Martin Scorsese shot his Gangs Of New York epic. Avati - whose own credits as a filmmaker include 2001's ICavalieri Che Fecero L'Impresa and upcomingperiod drama Il Cuore Altrove - ...
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Italian government set to change state funding criteria
The Italian government could soon overhaul the much-criticised way films are currently selected for state funding, and base its selection process on a picture's potential exportability rather than just its "national cultural interest."At a conference held in Rome on the sidelines of the EFA film awards, Gianni Profita, the newly-appointed ...
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Miramax Italia increases its involvement in local production
American actor Breckin Meyer will be the voice of Pinocchio in the US version of Roberto Benigni's Italian blockbuster, to be released in North America on December 25th. Meyer - whose credits include Clueless, Rat Race and The Insider - joins Glenn Close, who will dub the Blue Fairy - ...