A meeting, entitled Italy and India: a New Wave of Film Industry Collaborations, was held in the Italian Pavilion at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Roberto Stabile made the opening remarks followed by addresses from Italy’s ambassador to India Vincenzo De Luca and ANICA President Francesco Rutelli.
Ambassador De Luca expressed his satisfaction at the increase in collaboration between the two countries, mentioning the two Indian winners of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival: Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito(1957) and Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001). He also referenced the bilateral agreement to facilitate co-productions and access to festivals and India’s effort in promoting Italian creators and directors (Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara and Favolacce by Fratelli D’Innocenzo have participated in Indian festivals). His closing remarks noted that Italy is a favourite destination for Indian productions, citing films such as War (shot in Como, Matera and Positano), Radhe Shyam, Saaho (a scene shot at Cinecittà) and Sangam (shot in Rome and Venice). Two Indian productions are currently shooting in Italy: Four More Shots Please!, a series for Amazon is in Piedmont, and a film in Tuscany and Liguria. Anica President, Rutelli, confirmed Italy’s interest in a permanent collaborative relationship, one to be protected despite the difficulties of the present moment and the need to share in common challenges.
The round table, moderated by Natarajan Vidyasagar, chief editor of Pickle Magazine, was attended by Cristina Priarone, President of Italian Film Commissions, who noted that this was the right time to start new co-productions and described how the film commissions in Italy work closely with each other. The many locations in Italy chosen by Indian productions – Rome, Piedmont, Aosta Valley etc. – demonstrate the great variety that the country can offer. She noted that anti-Covid protocols were activated immediately after restrictions were lifted, making Italy one of the first countries to restart production.
Bobby Bedi, director and MD of Kaleidoscope Entertainment, noted the effects of production on tourism and cultural exchange and pointed out that a location is also the product of all the professional figures at work there.
Also participating was Iole Maria Giannattasio, representing DGCA – Directorate General for Cinema and Audio-Visual (Ministry of Culture), which manages one of Europe’s largest funds (€750M in 2022) to support films and audio-visual works distributed on streaming platforms or television, through all the stages, writing, development, production, distribution, theatrical release, festival, creative activities and promoting audio-visual culture. DGCA also supports co-productions and the circulation of Italian titles, promoting not only the country but also encouraging creative cooperation between directors and talent etc.. The agreement with India is one of about 40 such agreements with foreign countries.
The €5M fund for minority co-productions, established in 2019, brought Alcarràs (an Italian minority co-producer) to win the Golden Bear. The key financial instrument supporting films and series in terms of volume is the tax credit, whose threshold is now 40% of the eligible expenses in Italy. In addition to financial instruments, the film commissions and regional film funds work to support the industry.
Evelina Poggi, CEO and producer of Lynx Multimedia Factory, and P. Jayakumar, CEO of Toonz Animation India, presented a case of an animation co-production. Poggi introduced the project La bicicletta di Bartali (Bartali’s bicycle) based on cyclist Gino Bartali’s work to save Jews during WWII. This is an animation project developed after the audio-visual reforms in Italy: in 2021, there was a meeting with Toonz and selective grants and tax credits were requested from DGCA. This was an example of good practice and collaboration between productions whose intentions were primarily to work together rather than aiming at commercial profit.