Italy's national distributors union, UNIDIM, has appointed Eagle Pictures' Giampaolo Sodano as its new president, replacing Andrea Occhipinti.

In the same vein as last year's appointments, the position of vice president of the union has been split between an independent and a studio executive, with CDE's Jacopo Capanna and Richard Borg, head of United International Pictures (UIP) in Italy, both taking on the role.

In his acceptance speech, Sodano said he would aim to push through new legislation for the Italian film sector so as to bring it in line with its European peers.

A former journalist and member of Parliament, Sodano has previously held top managerial positions at Italian state broadcaster RAI 2, private rival Canale 5 and SACIS, the sales arm of RAI. He was named president of Rome-based distributor Eagle Pictures 18 months ago.