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 as the owner of state distributor Istituto Luce and Italian film promotional body Italia Cinema.

Livolsi, 57, is also the president of Italian investment bank Livolsi and Partners and the Convergence Fund, a Euros200m Fund targeted at media, telecommunications and e-business interests.

In 2000, Livolsi - a former executive at Silvio Berlusconi's media empire, Fininvest - decided to invest Euros75m over four years to finance 20 pictures produced by Rita Rusic, the ex-wife of fallen movie mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori. Pictures produced under their MovieWeb banner include Roberta Torre's Mafia-themed Sundance contender, Angela.

Cinecitta is now also expected to appoint new management at Istituto Luce. Cultural Minister Giuliano Urbani recently said that he intends for Luce to focus once again on its core activities as a distributor, as well as producer and archivist of historical Italian documentaries.

As such, Luce is expected to divest itself of its exhibition interests, which would be managed by Cinecitta. The distributor currently owns a 30% stake in Circuito Cinema, which owns 100 screens nationwide, and a share in multiplex chain Mediaport, which runs 55 screens.