Paolo Del Brocco, the CEO of Italy’s Rai Cinema, has said he hopes US films will still play at the Venice Film Festival even if he is not confident the US actors’ and writers’ strike will be resolved before the start of the festival on August 30.
“If the American movies do not have the possibility to be shown to people, I don’t like it for the prestige of the festival, nor for the public or for the industry,” Del Brocco told Screen at the Audiovisual Producers Summit in Trieste, Italy this week.
Del Brocco says one of the strengths of Venice is the presence of great US movies playing alongside Italian and international films. This, he says, has helped to elevate Venice into “the top festival in the world in terms of selection in the last two or three years.”
“If there will be a festival with more European and more Italian films [as a consequence of the strike] I’m not happy with it, I don’t feel well.”
Last year Rai Cinema had backed 25 of the films playing across Venice’s various strands, including three movies in main competition.
Del Brocco is hoping to have two or three Rai-backed films in competition, and has put forward 10 films for selection. Even a few days before Venice’s selection is unveiled on July 25, he is tight lipped about whether any have been offered a berth. Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitane and Saverio Costanzo’s Finalmente l’Alba are both strong contenders.
Investment slate
With an annual budget of $85m, Rai Cinema invests in a large slate of 50-70 films a year. Del Brocco says it’s important for the film arm of Italy’s state broadcaster to spread its funding widely among independent productions, rather than concentrating on a handful of films. “It would be much easier for us to do just 20 movies with the most important directors. But we need to develop our culture, our industry and we need young directors, as well as smaller movies that can go to festivals.”
He said the US actors’ and writers’ strikes are unlikely to prove advantageous for Italian productions, adding that one of the local sector’s biggest challenges is cost inflation.
Del Brocco said the Italian box office was showing signs of recovery this year, particularly in June, after struggling to bounce back after the pandemic. Italian box office grossed €306.6m in 2022, down a massive 48.2% compared to the 2017-2019 average, according to figures from Italian distributors’ association Anica. The Italian government is currently running a €20m initiative to subsidise cinema-going over the summer months in a bid to bolster the local industry.
The initiative offers half-price tickets and launched on June 16 and will run until September 16.
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