It is a big moment for newly launched Italian distribution, production, and sales company PiperFilm, which releases its debut film today (October 24) – Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, one of the most high-profile Italian movies of the year.
Set up earlier this year by former Vision Distribution executives, PiperFilm’s management team is led Massimiliano Orfei as CEO, alongside COO Luisa Borella, head of distribution Davide Novelli, head of international sales Catia Rossi and Emanuela Semeraro as marketing director.
PiperFilm acquired Parthenope in April, just before its world premiere in Competition at Cannes, and has been prepping its release strategy since then. “What better opportunity to launch a new distribution company with one of the best authors worldwide,” says Novelli.
The company has decided to “go all in” on the release of Parthenope on 500 screens. It is the only film the company will release this year, before it starts to roll out a slate of about 12 films a year from 2025. “This is one of the biggest promotional campaigns that we ever built,” explains Novelli.
It is the first time the team at PiperFilm has worked with Sorrentino, whose previous films have been released by a number of other Italian distributors including Lucky Red and Medusa. But they knew the director from their time at Vision, which has links to Parthenope-backer Fremantle, and presented their new company and their pitch for the film’s distribution to him.
The company has sought to keep up awareness of Parthenope throughout the local industry and with local audiences since its Cannes debut. The film was presented to exhibitors at CineEurope in June, and then at Italian exhibitor event Ciné – Giornate Estive di Cinema and the youth-focused Giffoni Film Festival in July.
Young audiences
A core element of the campaign has been a focus on younger audiences, in keeping with the subject matter of the film about the story of a young woman in Naples, played by Celeste Dalla Porta, chronicling her birth, her youthful teenage summers and the years she spends adrift as a young adult.
Throughout the summer, PiperFilm released materials from the film on social networks such as Instagram and TikTok. At the end of September, it organised a series of midnight screenings – showing Parthenope only at midnight in 14 theatres in Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Bologna, Turin and Palermo for seven nights continuously. “We’ve never tried anything like that before,” says Novelli. The result, he adds, was better than expected: “The entire audience was less than 25 years old.”
The campaign expanded with a major push to hit all audiences across key media, including out of home, TV, radio, cinemas and social media. Sorrentino has also been “extremely available” to promote the movie in media outlets, says Novelli.
He won’t reveal how much has been spent on the campaign, but when Screen was in Italy last week for the Rome Film Festival and MIA markets, posters for Parthenope were plastered all over the city.
Future plans
Looking ahead, PiperFilm is going to focus specifically on Italian features, from festival titles to traditional comedies. It aims to have a film in each of the leading festivals and has so far achieved this – with Parthenope at Cannes and Giulia Steigerwalt’s Diva Futura at Venice. Novelli says PiperFilm is submitting a movie to Berlin and has a film it would like to be in Cannes next year.
The company intends to invest in around 12 Italian films a year, mostly at script stage and co-producing in exchange for rights but occasionally making acquisitions like Parthenope.
So far it has lined up a diverse slate, spanning comedy, arthouse and action. Its first release of 2025 will be in January for comedy Dove Osano Le Cicogne (Who Wants to Be a Parent?), starring popular comedian Angelo Pintus. Next up is Diva Futura, then in March comes Gabriele Mainetti’s as-yet-untitled kung-fu movie while April will see the release of another comedy, 30 Notti Con La Mia Ex (30 Nights With My Ex Wife) directed by Guido Chiesa and starring Edoardo Leo and Micaela Ramazzotti.
The company has launched with two important deals in place: one with Netflix to take the first exclusive post-theatrical window for Italy on PiperFilm titles, and another with Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia to handle the physical distribution of their films in Italian cinemas.
High-profile Italian sales agent Catia Rossi – who previously launched True Colours and the sales arm of Vision – has now launched PiperFilm’s international sales operation and made her market debut for the company at MIA last week with the above films on her slate (with the exception of Parthenope).
Says Novelli: “Piper has the goal to become one of the main players in the Italian production, distribution and sales industry.”
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