Italy’s Mediaset Mulls Takeover of Spanish Unit, Ups Prosieben Stake

A man who bought a house in Italy for just 85p has been forced to give it up after being unable to find tradesmen to refurbish the property before a strict deadline.

Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo served up a new menu of Italian treats at his Alderley Edge restaurant Luciano - before jetting out to Italy for a summer of huge new TV projects. Gino shocked viewers of This Morning earlier this week when he said it was his "last show" due to his departure to his native Italy for a raft of new projects.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentIn a move that will transform Italy’s relationship with Netflix, the Italian government has set a firm three-month time window between a movie’s theatrical release and when it can drop on a streaming platform.The announcement was made by Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini during a Rome confab on the state of the country’s film industry held by the country’s motion picture association ANICA.The minister said he has signed a law that will extend the existing 90-day theatrical window for Italian films that had benefitted from government subsidies to now include all films, regardless of where they are produced or how they are financed.Due to its having a more flexible windowing policy than France, Italy in recent years has been an interesting testing ground for the theatrical releases of Netflix titles, largely because the Venice Film Festival is a frequent launching pad for the platform’s original films.

This Morning chef Gino D'Acampo has revealed he is leaving the ITV daytime show.The 45 year old celebrity chef, who has become a popular fixture on the programme, shared his plans on the latest edition today, Tuesday, March 29. “I was just walking around because I am a little bit sad today because I am going to go to Italy very soon, so this is my last This Morning, until probably autumn or winter," Gino explained. “Thank god for that," presenter Phillip Schofield teased him.

Fed-up passengers landing in Manchester said they were forced to sit on a plane for almost an hour after it landed on Sunday, as others claimed they were left waiting for around two hours for their baggage in another day of 'chaos'.

Ed Meza @edmezavarSpanish distributors, who have enjoyed a strong track record selling remake rights to local pics, have received a major boost this year with the Malaga Festival Industry Zone’s (MAFIZ) inaugural Remake Day event on Thursday.Leading film sales companies, among them Cinema Republic, Latido Films, Filmax and Feel Content, presented showcases of films considered particularly adaptable to foreign markets. Not surprisingly, comedies and genre pics made up most of the selections.David Castellanos’ Cinema Republic offered one strong example with Borja Cobeaga’s  hit 2009 romantic comedy “Pagafantas,” which has over the years sold to Germany, Italy and Mexico.Cinema Republic also touted Icíar Bollaín’s “Rosa’s Wedding” (“La Boda de Rosa”), about a woman in her mid-40s who decides to finally take charge of her life and fulfill her dream of starting a business.

when the Oscar nominations were announced this year. Spanish cinema, long lagging behind other European rivals like Italy and France, has finally begun to catch up. Carla Simón’s win in Berlin for ‘Alcarràs’ is proof of that. According to Variety, Cruz is currently in the mix to be the president of the Cannes festival jury, a distinction already granted in 2017 to Pedro Almodóvar, by far the most appreciated Iberian director abroad.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFollowing “Gomorrah” and “The Young Pope,” Sky continues to bring to the screen fresh edgy TV series with “The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama but transcends genre tropes to recount the country’s complex way of contending with evil forces, including terrorism.The dark skein, currently playing in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-TV service –– and premiering internationally in competition at Series Mania –– is the brainchild of Italian A-list actor Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.After playing a a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth in “Montalbano,” Zingaretti “wanted to do a show set in an Italian maximum security penitentiary and play a character who was the head of this jail,” says “The King” producer Lorenzo Mieli. Zingaretti’s character, named Bruno Testori, is the “supreme ruler” of the San Michele penitentiary, which is packed with hard core criminals of various types and located on an unspecified Italian border zone that is not subjected to Italian law.“Being the custodian of these evil people, he has to negotiate with evil,” says Mieli.

A dedicated supporter of an Ayrshire charity has tragically died after a jet crash over mountains in Italy.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDomenico Procacci’s Fandango, the Rome shingle that originated the “Gomorrah” and “My Brilliant Friend” skeins, will be at Series Mania’s Co-Pro Pitching Forum with “The Impossible She,” about Neapolitan aristocrat Maria Teresa de Filippis who during the 1950s became the world’s first female Formula 1 driver.The only Italian project selected for these pitches, “The Impossible She” germinated from a collaboration between young director Lorenzo Sportiello –– whose credits include Netflix’s Italian original “Summertime” –– and documaker Simone Manetti who both worked with prominent screenwriter Federica Pontremoli (“We Have a Pope”). Sportiello and Manetti will each direct several of the show’s eight episodes.