France and Italy are strengthening their historical ties, with the first Franco-Italian Film Meetings to take place in Rome from June 8 through 10, 2005!
Together with the CNC (Centre National de la Cinématographie), Unifrance President Margaret Menegoz will lead a delegation of around 70 film professionals travelling to Rome to attend the 1st Franco-Italian Film Meetings, to be held between June 8 and 10 this year.
These professional days, organized at the initiative of Gaetano Blandini (Head of the Italian Culture Ministry’s Film Department), Carlo Fuscagni, President of Cinecittà Holding, Alessandro Usai, Cinecittà Holding's Managing Director, Adriana Chiesa, President of AIP Filmitalia, Luciano Sovena, Managing Director of the Istituto Luce, the CNC and Unifrance, will focus on production and distribution, promotion and marketing, as well as the role of television channels. These meetings aim to expand and develop cooperation between the French and Italian film industries, and to boost the distribution of French films in Italy and Italian films in France.
The first workshop will be devoted to distribution. Several concrete examples of current films will serve as a basis for discussions: Valerio De Paolis from Bim Distribuzione will refer to the Italian release of "8 Women" and "5 x 2," and Roberto Cicutto from Mikado Film will discuss the release of "The Man on the Train" and "The Flower of Evil." The French distributors Philippe Godeau (PanEuropéenne) and Stéphane Célérier (Mars) will take up the subject of the French releases of "Respiro" and "The Hundred Steps."
Friday will be dedicated to developments in production financing in France and Italy, and the current state of co-productions between the two countries, in the presence of Raphaël Hadas-Lebel (President of the Selective Distribution Aid Commission at the CNC), Adriana Chiesa (AIP Filmitalia), Martine Marignac (Pierre Grise Productions), Anne-Dominique Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles), Luciano Sovena (Istituto Luce), Rosanna Seregni (Sintra) and Marco Chimenz (Cattleya).
The final workshop of the day will be directed to the role of television channels in film financing. Attending this meeting will be representatives from France Télévisions, Canal Plus, Rai Cinema, Mediaset and Medusa film.
These first Franco-Italian Film Meetings seek to promote ties between professionals from the two countries, and in doing so to boost and energize each stage of film production within a new and stronger context for bilateral cooperation in this sector.
For further information, contact: Hélène Conand, Unifrance – Tel: (+33 1) 47 53 27 41, Fax: (+33 1) 47 53 27 44 - helene.conand@unifrance.org
