Italy Doubles Film Distribution Fund to $2 million, Expands Scope to Include Streaming, TV – FilMart (EXCLUSIVE)

The Sands International Film Festival of St Andrews has set Stanley Tucci as a special guest for this year’s edition, where he will present a screening of his 1996 culinary comedy Big Night.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Shooting is underway in Italy on Indian action thriller “Salaar” starring Prabhas, who is playing a dual role in the film according to sources. The hotly-anticipated blockbuster written and directed by Prashanth Neel – and produced by Vijay Kiragandur via his Hombale Films shingle – has been filming since mid-March in Matera, the ancient southern Italian town known for its prehistoric whitewashed caves. Matera is the location where, among other international titles, the prologue action sequence for James Bond film “No Time to Die” was shot. The film’s cast also includes Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan and Jagapathi Babu.

Strictly Come Dancing fans were left overjoyed when 2021 winner Rose Ayling-Ellis reunited with dance partner Giovanni Pernice as part of a surprise appearance on Anton & Giovanni's Adventures in Sicily. Rose's visit was organised by Giovanni's co-star Anton Du Beke, and saw the former EastEnders actress arrive in a helicopter, while back on the ground Anton told Giovanni he had a surprise arriving for him. Following Rose's arrival she joined, Anton and Giovanni as they took a turn on a zip wire neat Mount Etna.

The Venice Film Festival has set filmmaker Liliana Cavani and actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai to receive this year’s Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. The 80th Venice fest runs from August 30-September 9 on the Lido.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in Belgium’s A Team Productions the indie outfit behind hit drug gang drama “Patsers” by directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and standout short “ “Baghdad Messi.”  The company, which was founded in 2009, is headed by Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé and scored its first major international in 2011 with the short “Land of the Heroes” which won the International Jury Prize at the Berlinale that year. They are also behind short “Baghdad Messi,” by Belgium-based Kurdish director Sahim Omar Kalifa, which won prizes at dozens of international fests and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2014.

Row8 offers rentals of new and back catalog films via distribution deals with the major studios. The service allows customers to cancel rentals within the first 30 minutes of watching and exchange for another title, and offers “scene alert,” which alerts parents to potentially inappropriate scenes before they display.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Erik Lomis, a longtime film distribution executive, died at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 64. Lomis served as MGM’s head of theatrical distribution and most recently oversaw the release strategy for “Creed III,” which opened to a franchise-record $51 million.

Many daily grocery items have more than doubled over the last year, according to experts.

Fremantle’s revenues rose 21% to €2.3B ($2.44B) and profits were up 15% last year as the super-indie inches toward its target to hit €3B ($3.2B) turnover by 2025.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s 40% tax rebates for international film and TV series are a magnet that has been crucial to luring lots of shoots to the country. These incentives are behind the current contemporaneous presence on the Cinecittà Studios lot of Oscar-winner Edward Berger’s new film “Conclave,” Netflix period soap “Decameron,” and Roland Emmerich’s Peacock gladiator series “Those About to Die,” to name a few examples.  That’s why Italian Deputy Culture Minister Lucia Bergonzoni on Oscar week travelled to Los Angeles to meet with Hollywood studio and streamer chiefs. Her mission: to dispel fears swirling in the global film community ever since Italy’s new right-wing government was installed in October 2022 regarding the prospect that the Italian rebates could be pulled or in some way watered down. 

a newly redesigned website that collectively put less emphasis on “New York” and “film” in the school’s original name. In addition to film arts, NYFA offers curriculum in two other disciplines: media arts and performing arts with classes ranging from “The new look features a refreshed color scheme — retaining its original black and white branding, we now see the former red accent replaced with accents of magenta, cyan and yellow for each area of study,” the school’s press release on the rebranding states.Beyond its original New York City campus, NYFA awards graduate and undergraduate degrees and one and two-year certificate programs at its campuses in Miami, Los Angeles, Australia and Italy, as well as its satellite locations and online.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Aardman Animations’ founder Peter Lord and “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman are set to receive Pulcinella Career Awards at Italy’s Cartoons On The Bay TV animation festival which is broadening its scope. The event launched in 1996 by Italian state broadcaster RAI has now expanded beyond TV toons to comprise video game productions, the comic book world, transmedia storytelling and metaverse animation content. Reflecting its more high-tech horizons, the fest’s 27th edition – which will run May 31-June 4 in the Southern seaside city of Pescara – will also be celebrating “Cuphead,” the hit Canadian video game that’s become a Netflix series, and bestowing its creator Maja Moldenhauer with its new Transmedia Award.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, is back in full force in 2023, celebrating its 25th anniversary edition from April 21–29. A key component of the celebrations will be a focus on the Asian films of the 1980s. “We have never programmed these films, nor put together this kind of program before,” says Thomas Bertacche, the FEFF’s co-head. “But these were the films and directors that inspired us to shape Udine into the festival that it is today.” Pitching the historical lineup as “hidden treasures,” the selection is expected to include early works by Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Thailand’s Nonzee Nimibutr and South Korea’s Jan Sung-woo.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Singapore’s Mocha Chai Laboratories and Emissary Pictures, a company that straddles New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, have announced a strategic partnership for the development and production of cross-cultural films, series and content in Asia. The venture will have offices in all four countries and will identify, develop and produce content across genres and formats, including films, television series, documentaries and digital content. The agreement was announced in Hong Kong on the first day of the FilMart rights market. The pair say that they have scripted and unscripted projects in development and production. Slate details, however, remain under wraps as do distribution plans.

American-European Media Fund APX Group has completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in the UK’s Twickenham Film Studios.

It was on May 23, 2007, when Italian icon Paolo Maldini wrote his name into the history books and secured his place in Champions League folklore.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian sales company True Colours has closed a raft of sales following Berlin’s European Film Market. Italy’s box office hit “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”) got picked up for a dozen territories and queer romantic drama “Norwegian Dream” also sold widely, including to North America. Directed by Roberto Andò, “Strangeness” (pictured) toplines Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as Nobel-prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello. This tragicomic period piece about how Pirandello found inspiration to write his masterpiece “Six Characters in Search of an Author” has been a sleeper hit at the Italian box office, coming from nowhere to pull more than €5.5 million ($5.8 million) and becoming the local 2022 box office champ.

Actresses Joey King and Jane Fonda are celebrating International Women’s Day with powerful messages!

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Middle East satellite and streaming platform OSN Group has extended its relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery forging a new multi-year licensing deal under which it will become the exclusive home for HBO content in the region. In addition to HBO shows, such as “Succession,” the renewed agreement has been expanded to cover additional content and channel offerings from Warner Bros. giving OSN premium access to recent blockbuster movie hits such as “The Batman,” “Dune,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” and “The Suicide Squad.” The deal was announced in Dubai with “Succession” star Brian Cox on hand.

New research has predicted that 2023 will be the final year American consumer’s spend on TV and film rises before hitting a steady decline over the coming years.