Venice: Italian film industry execs on maximising opportunity during dual strike

Leading Italian film industry executives are gearing up to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the dual Hollywood strikes.

During a panel at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday (Aug 2), Nicola Borrelli, general director cinema and audiovisiual at the Italian ministry of culture; Nicola Maccanico, Ceo Cinecittà; Concita De Gregorio, editor-in-chief THR Roma; Giampaolo Letta, CEO Medusa Film; and Francesco Rutelli, general director ANICA spoke about the potential to fill the void left by Hollywood with homegrown Italian content. 

“If supply decreases with Hollywood on strike, we need to be ready with our products for the international market as well,” said Rutelli, during a panel moderated by THR Roma editor-in-chief Concita De Gregorio. (Via The Hollywood Reporter).

“We need to interpret market changes in real-time. And we need the government to issue certain rules with respect to these changes. It’s not a matter of changing the system’s regulations, but of adjusting them quickly to the changed and rapid changes taking place.”

Maria Pia Ammirati director of Rai Fiction, a division of Italy’s national public broadcaster, highlighted that since the beginning of this year, international sales of Italian content has increased 43% compared to 2022.

Cinecittà's Maccanico said the Italian industry “has returned to the levels of the 1960s” when Rome was referred to as “Hollywood on the Tiber” and that the time has come for local filmmakers to “conquer the world market.”

However, Medusa's Letta noted that the Italian film industry currently faces major challenges, with rising costs and reduced investment putting strain on budgets.

“The next few months will be difficult for the industry: Costs to make films have increased by as much as 30 percent, Italian titles struggling to gain a foothold in theaters, there is less investment and therefore a lower appetite for risk,” he said.

As THR outlines, only 20 Italian films were made with budgets over €6m ($6.5m) in 2023, including Venice Saverio Costanzo’s Venice competition entry Finally Dawn and Edoardo de Angelis’ festival opener Comandante. Of those 20, just two (Paola Cortellesi’s C’è ancora domani and Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera), were female directed, and only two (C’è ancora domani and Finally Dawn), were lead by female actors.

The panel highlighted the importance of protecting local production in order to sustain the industry.

All the panelists called for more unity between independent producers.