In yet another blow toItalian movie mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori's long-avowed comeback - Finmavi -Cecchi Gori's financial holding company for his media group - has been declaredbankrupt by the Rome bankruptcy court, a press release issued by theCecchi Gori Group said late Monday.

Cecchi Gori vowed to battlethe decision: 'I will fight with all my force to demonstrate theinjustices I have submitted to in these last years. I can even die poor, but asan honest and respectable person,' the emotional press statement read.

In the statement Cecchi Goriexplained he had 'given the go ahead to my legal team to oppose (thisdecision) - and I hope for rapid proceedings.' An initial court date isset for Jan 16, 2007.

He calls the sentence'unexpected and unexplainable' citing that Finmavi was in a "preventiveagreement with' the consensus of the creditors.'

Those creditors, the pressstatement indicated, are due to "damages caused by" Merrill Lynch, Telecom andthe Fiorentina Soccer club incidents. (Cecchi Gori was accused in 2002 oftransferring $32m from his then-Fiorentina Soccer Club to Finmavi).

But it was Cecchi Gori'sattempt to challenge the RAI and Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset TV duopoly thatis generally considered the cause of the group's financial downfall. In 2000Telecom purchased TeleMontecarlo from Cecchi Gori for less than he hoped.

Due to these and othertroubles over the past six years, the producer whose credits include Il Postino and Oscar-winning Life Is Beautiful has seen hisproduction, distribution and exhibition empire virtually crumble in a quagmireof bad debt and corruption charges.

In 2005 he managed tosafeguard seven Rome cinemas from forced sale - and won a case againstone of his principal creditors The Merrill Lynch Bank. Today, the fate of thesecinemas (including money-making jewel of the group, the multiplex CinemaAdriano) is now unclear, Cecchi Gori's spokesman said. The group's vast filmlibrary's fate is also potentially at risk.

Despite this upset, thespokesperson confirmed to ScreenDaily.com that the producer is currently in thecasting stage for the previously announced project The Dance Of Victory (El Baie de la vittoria) - a Spanish-language filmfinanced by Cecchi Gori with Chilean and Spanish television.