Lucia Borgonzoni

Source: AVP Summit

Lucia Borgonzoni

Italy is gearing up to host a number of international productions with “high budgets” later this year, said Italian culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni this week. 

Borgonzoni, who is undersecretary of state to the Italian ministry of culture, highlighted the economic and employment impact of the film industry to the country; Italy offers a 40% tax credit on Italian spend for international productions.

“We continue to be extremely attractive for the international productions, despite the tough competition from other countries,” Borgonzoni told Screen at the Venice Film Festival. 

According to figures published by the Ministry during the festival, it provided classification to 400 films in 2024 with a total production spend of €827.25m, an 18% increase on the previous year. 

Of these, 263 were 100% Italian productions, comprising 151 features and 112 documentaries. A further 103 were co-productions, including 51 with majority Italian participation. France was the main international partner with 27 co-produced films, followed by Switzerland (13), Slovenia (11) and Germany (10).

There were four co-productions with the UK and three with the US.

The majority of films classified during 2024 were lower -budget productions. Twelve films had a production budget of over €10m, and 54 had a budget of €3.5m to €10m. 

Public financing accounted for 46% (€333m) of total film financing, with just over half coming from private sources. 315 tax credit requests were submitted in 2024, for a total of €248m.

Tightened eligibility

Italy has been tightening the eligibility criteria and monitoring of the film tax credits it hands out to national films amid claims that too many that received funds were not being seen.

The ministry’s long-serving head of cinema and audiovisual Nicola Borrelli left his post this summer amid a scandal about a tax credit worth almost $1m being granted in 2023 for a film, Stelle della Notte, that was never made, allegedly involving a US producer accused of a double murder.

“We noticed that with the passing of time, the law had shown some faults and some flaws, so we tried to amend those flaws,” said Borgonzoni.

Italian producers have also complained that the ministry is understaffed and slow at processing applications for automatic support for productions.

Borgonzoni said €3.5m has been earmarked to increase the number of staff in the ministry to speed up the process. “We’ve already started hiring the people. We’re training them in terms of these new procedures [so they are] prepared to perform all the checks and controls.

“And we are also trying to streamline the procedures, and in particular, the automatic system. The automatic procedures…are complex both for those who have to fill them in and for us who must check and control them.”

Venice

Borgonzoni underlined the role of the Venice Film Festival and the Italian film industry in enhancing the country’s economy and global reputation. “Venice is an extremely important event and festival for Italy,” she said. 

The presence of international stars means “the whole world is looking at us, at Venice and this festival,” she said, while also highlighting the five Italian films in main competition.

This year’s festival has seen significant numbers of stars walk the red carpet, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Emma Stone and Jude Law.

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