Italy will be the ’Country of Focus’ at the European Film Market In Berlin in 2024 as part of a major push from the Italian government to boost the profile of Italian films around the world.
Roberto Stabile, head of special projects of the directorate general for cinema and audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture (DGCA-MiC) at Cinecittà, confirmed an extra €500,000 has been set aside for the event.
“We will try to bring the best from Italy to Berlin,” he said in Cannes, where three Italian films are screening in Competition: Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Nanni Moretti’s A Brighter Tomorrow and Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped.
He was joined in the Italian Pavilion by Berlinale managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, EFM director Dennis Ruh, and Nicola Borrelli, director general of the directorate general for cinema and audiovisual of Italy’s Ministry of Culture (MiC).
The EFM will take place from February 15 to 21, 2024 during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
The investment is part of a raft of initiatives being created to boost Italian cinema globally. Italian Screen, which hosts mini-festivals of Italian films in the US and four Indian citie, is expanding to South Africa, China and south-east Asia. This is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with the support of the the Academy of Italian Cinema - David di Donatello Awards.
Stabile confirmed Italy has boosted its minority coproduction fund from €5m €6m and there is the prospect of further increases in coming years.
““The Fund has worked very, very well to help Italian producers to become partners in minority coproductions,” said Stabile. ”Our government wants to push coproduction more and more.”
Italy is also now contemplating an officiall coproduction treaty with the UK with which Italy signed a memorandum of understanding last year.
According to data released this week by the European Audiovisual Observatory, Italy has had the lowest recovery rate from the pandemic among major European markets. Cinema attendance was at around 47.9 million in 2022, less than half pre-pandemic averages of 99 million. However, Italian production has been booming with a record number of 357 films shot in Italy in 2022.
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