Interview with Film Commission Torino Piemonte director Paolo Manera
Services, funding, events: the Film Commission Torino Piemonte’s operational strategy
Piedmont has demonstrated once again its strong affinity with cinema: the 2022 Annual Reports note the presence of 217 productions in the region, with 1,000+ shoot days, an average of 3 active sets per day, and 58 projects supported by the grants of the Film Commission.
After all, the region’ capital, Turin, was where the first great blockbusters were created (Cabiria, Giovanni Pastrone’s silent masterpiece, brought prestige to the subalpine cinema industry on the eve of WWI). The city has also been home to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema for the last 23 years, as long as the Film Commission has been in existence.
While 2022 already reported significant amounts, 2023 began with €12 million in European funds, earmarked for use in the subsequent three-year period and offering substantial increases in the annual grants: the Regione’s film fund has a €4 million budget this year, more than quadruple the previous year. Calls for documentaries and short films continue to provide support, demonstrating the Film Commission’s solid interest in these genres; and, in addition, the 2023 development fund, supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, has a €700k budget for the 2023/24 biennial plan.
A region prominent on the international scene and one of the most active in Italy, the Piedmont of cinema focuses on three intersecting lines of action: services, funding, events – explains Film Commission Torino Piemonte (FCTP) Director, Paolo Manera. He continues, “This means that productions arriving in Piedmont, of any genre or format, will find everything they need to develop their project at any given moment; they find not only “petrol” in funding but also, more importantly, an element of guidance in developing a certain type of project, one that is international and sustainable and likely to find co-financing, distributors and a team; in addition, our events are structured appointments that serve to discuss and broadcast themes essential to our regional cinema and audiovisual system”.
Why should productions choose Piedmont? What are the strengths of the Film Commission?
Smaller projects have helped the entire industry to grow,intersecting with large-scale productions
There is a wide variety of reasons for shooting in Piedmont, and the eclectic list of locations certainly plays a significant role; in a relatively small area, one can find Baroque masterpieces, post-industrial zones, and areas with more contemporary architecture, plus natural settings with large open landscapes that range from high mountains to hills and a lake district.
Turin, of course, is a city of such variety that it can be used as a stand-in for many other places: over the years, it has represented Rome, Paris, Milan, Sarajevo, St. Petersburg etc. (a reference to the many productions where Turin has been used for other cities; e.g. besieged Sarajevo for Twice Born, Russia for The King's Man and War and Peace, its palaces serving as the places of power in Rome for Il divo, Welcome Mr. President and Welcome Back Mr. President, Ed.).
And there is more. The smaller, independent projects work like training gyms that allow the entire industry to grow and, at the same time, interact with the big productions. Over the years, a kind of osmosis between the two realities has grown up, several years ago they were parallel worlds but then they came closer and closer together and now intersect. This is a characteristic of Piedmont: it not only offers a variety of locations but also a wide range of trained professionals for any type of project.
Funds offer incentives to increase the number of internationalized projects and create employment
Furthermore, while, on the one hand, we offer an excellent welcome and services capable of accommodating over 200 productions a year – ranging from international blockbusters to TV series, documentaries, TV formats, advertising, experimental and contemporary projects like VR – on the other, we are committed to funding the most qualified, international and eco-sustainable projects that will benefit employment.
Events that focus on new cinema
Then there are the events, like Torino Film Industry week, a collaboration between FC, Short Film Market, Torino Film Lab with a focus on new cinema, new talent, documentaries, short films, first and second works, experimental TV series, and international works, that concentrates on those starting out in the industry who find a space here to interact with big players like Netflix, RAI etc.
Funding is certainly key, but the constant presence of top-level international productions (Fast X) suggests that there is something more on offer…
“Production friendly” Piedmont
Fast X (locations) is an excellent example of a production that found perfect locations combined with easy management and use, in Piedmont.
The Film Commission worked with the local councillors, the relevant administrative offices and businesses to set up the extremely complicated production machine that is Fast & Furious in the city, just as it was opening up after the pandemic (Turin hosted the Salone del Libro, Eurovision Song Contest, Festival dell’economia, and a stage of the Giro d’Italia in May 2021). Turin showed that it was able to manage logistics and hospitality and provide the production with highly qualified local professionals.
You were getting ready to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Film Commission in 2020 with a programme of events, including a travelling exhibition about the locations that have become iconic film history. We all know what happened next…
2020 was the year that the Film Commission turned 20
2020 took us by surprise because we had a whole programme of large scale, public events scheduled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Film Commission; however, unlike other sectors which had to close down, the cinema and audiovisual industry experienced a season of great vitality. During the two months of lockdown, we were in constant contact with the rest of Italy and the world to work out what was happening and how we could react to it together. The market responded with a boom in productions where cultural places became open air sets, taking advantage of the empty cities and giving work to those normally active in other sectors, like music and theatre.
Then we worked with the theatres to help them open up again and the summer open air cinemas that year were very successful.
Could such a high number of productions be seen as an annoying invasion by residents?
First “Elisa” then “Lidia”: two case studies of cinema-based tourism
On the contrary! Cinema is greatly appreciated and admired in this area, this is also because we communicate all the time, explaining the financial benefit behind each production. The entire process is laid bare in print and social media to show that the production machine is more than just a famous actor; more importantly there is an involvement of local people, an influx of spending (e.g. hotels, restaurants) and, not least, an image boost for the region.
Piedmont is certainly a case study for “cinema-based tourism”. A recent addition to the past success of “Elisa”, another female-centric series, “Lidia”, has produced tourist routes and tours, some even in costumes, to the shooting locations (Elisa is a reference to an excellent example of cinema-based tourism; the very successful costume drama Elisa di Rivombrosa (2003) produced a boom of visitors to its locations. Lidia refers to The Law According to Lidia Poet, shot in Turin two decades later, Ed.). This aspect contributes to a positive perception of the industry.
You must have some funny stories from this huge number of productions…
The funny situations from “too many sets”
The most colourful and entertaining sets were undoubtedly the three Bollywood films shot during the height of the pandemic in October 2021, just as the “Indian variant” of Covid was spreading. The set required 75 actors from India and a large number of different locations, with dance scenes involving adults, elderly people and children. It was potentially a very complicated situation where very different cultures, people and worlds co-existed and worked together during a full-on pandemic.
Another anecdote that gives the idea of how chaotic it can be to have many sets on the go – last autumn there were 9 productions shooting at the same time, the FC offices were overflowing with people, costumes, set elements, extras, and the city was also full: while shooting on a boat on the Po, a crew saw a boat come into shot, with another camera, from another production!
On the subject of multiple sets, an Italian actor, while expressing his pleasure in being in Turin, told a press conference that there were so many productions in the city he once ended up on the wrong one.
On another occasion, while a production was shooting the last scene, picnickers came into shot and the lead actress, in costume, had to ask them to move so that they could finish up.
Could these anecdotes suggest that it would be opportune to broaden the range of available locations?
Thanks to productions, many locations are given a “second life”
Years ago, the FC began a project called “rete regionale/regional network” which outlined a series of agreements with the municipalities (to date, more than 100 in all the provinces) so we could grow our database of viable locations. This gave us the opportunity to discover some wonderful new places!
Sometimes, it is the productions who finance the reclaiming of a location because they wish to use it: this has been the case with several disused factories, industrial spaces. We made an agreement with a production shooting in the former asylum of Collegno that the set elements would be left in situ to create an exhibition route and revitalize the structure.
(Monica Sardelli)