Interview with Birgit Oberkofler - Head of IDM Film Commission Südtirol

A stable fund of € 4.5 million, care for the environment, gender balance and local talent

A little strip of land amidst the mountains in the north of Italy’s boot on the border with Austria and Switzerland, Alto Adige is a place of contrasts that enrich, complete and fuel each other: steep, rocky peaks and slopes alternate with gentle valleys dotted with fairy-tale villages and lively towns where tradition and respect for nature meet innovation and progress.

This is a concept that IDM Film Commission Südtirol has fully promoted in its mission to assist productions choosing to shoot in the territory, to the point of including green shooting and gender mainstreaming certification in the criteria for obtaining financing from its annual €4.5 million fund.

The results are clear:  the 29 projects financed in 2022 generated an “Alto Adige multiplier” of 223% which translates into €11+ million for the territory.

Birgit Oberkofler, who has guided the IDM Film Commission Südtirol since May 2017, tells us about the treasures of Alto Adige and the strengths of the Film Commission. She works with her team to increase the number of productions in the region, attracted by the Fund and the locations, to support young talent, develop the production and post-production sector, improve the level of local industry professionals and promote the expansion of the creative economy in Alto Adige.

What are the strengths of your Film Commission?

Gender mainstreaming and green shooting are criteria in IDM Film Commission Südtirol financing

IDM Film Commission Südtirol is a reliable partner for domestic and international producers choosing to shoot in Alto Adige.  This is thanks to the work that we have done to facilitate access to resources – even productions without offices in Italy can request financing – and to the solidity of the fund with its stable budget of €4.5 million per year, allocated by the Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano to finance the production and pre-production of films, documentaries, TV series, short films and short form series that are shot entirely or partially in the region.  Producers can rely on 3 annual calls to submit a financing request and a team of consultants that will be by their side from the first interview through disbursement of the grant to the completion of the project.  We have, since 2021, added new criteria to the Fund which include gender mainstreaming, to guarantee a better balance between the professionals on set, and green shooting certification, as part of the path to inclusion and sustainability.

In addition to funding, IDM offers logistics support with various production services:  location scouting, local professionals in support of crew and cast, equipment rental and local post production services.

We invest hugely in local talent, working constantly on their professional growth in order to improve the support we offer the productions that come here to shoot – we also focus on development programmes and networking which we organise here every year:  these have, in some cases, become a reference point for audiovisual industry professionals, such as the Script Lab for screenplays RACCONTI and our Film Conference INCONTRI in Merano.

Alto Adige, a bridge between Italy and German-speaking countries

All these resources help our Film Commission to attract investment and strengthen the cinema sector in Alto Adige, a territory that is increasingly present in the Italian and international film market and is a point of contact between Italy and the bordering German-speaking countries, thanks to our specific geographical position which makes it the ideal partner for creating co-productions between Italy and the German world.

Why should productions choose your territory?

Alto Adige is well-known by all for its spectacular landscapes, vast swathes of nature and mountains, but our territory offers much more in addition to the Alpine sites.  Interiors in heritage buildings, for example, city districts, war bunkers, churches in the woods, plus medieval borgos and architecture from the early 1900s and today.

Unusual settings, views with strong visual impact and architectural details, productions can find all this with us; through our  online Location Database or scouting programme - which IDM Film Commission Südtirol organizes annually – we can help them find the perfect location for any project.

Any anecdotes/fun facts to tell us?  For example, what are the most surprising or first-time locations that you’ve suggested for productions or strange happenings on the set?

The United States recreated in Alto Adige

To tell the story of Mario Capecchi, the Italian geneticist who is the key figure in Hill of Vision, director Roberto Faenza started shooting in Alto Adige.  He was supposed to move to the United States for the second part of the film:  the locations were already chosen but the pandemic made it impossible. The location manager from Alto Adige worked with Jean Vigo production to create Pennsylvania on the Altopiano del Salto where the mountains and the vegetation work perfectly for the American story.  The Cesare Battisti barracks in Merano were used for the school Capecchi went to in the 1930s;  an entire Quaker village and a medical practice were created here in addition to the façade of the Stockholm building where Capecchi received the Nobel Prize in 2007 (locations of Hill of Vision).

I can think of an Italian film that was shot mostly in Alto Adige which broke records on Netflix last year as the best ever debut on the platform: my name is vendetta (location) with Alessandro Gassmann as father with a criminal past and Ginevra Francesconi as his daughter Sofia. A film with characteristics that seem “local” at first, where those from Alto Adige can recognise mountain cottages and lakes in Val Pusteria, Brunico, Villabassa, Dobbiaco and San Candido, but which also had a huge appeal for the international public given the number of times it was watched.

A fun anecdote comes from the set of Giorgio Pasotti’s film, Abbi Fede: the apples on the tree devotedly tended by the main character are not real (a proper paradox in Alto Adige!) but were attached specifically for the shoot.

Could we have some numbers about last year (productions supported, funding, multiplier effect…)

29 projects financed in 2022 producing an “Alto Adige multiplier” of 223%

Our Fund disbursed financing to 29 projects in 2022, including 6 short films, generating an “Alto Adige multiplier” of 223%, more than €11 million. The territory hosted 420 shoot days and registered the participation of a dozen films supported by IDM at prestigious festivals in Europe:  our Film Commission registered a very positive result in 2022.  Furthermore, 15 of the 29 funded projects committed to sustainable, green practices in keeping with the green shooting criteria, which confirms our choice to work sustainably and with care, also on the environmental front.

What about future projects (e.g. new productions on the horizon or FC activities?)

Many sets arriving and commitment to upcoming talent

The new sets that we are welcoming to the territory include a TV series from Giovanni Veronesi, La valanga azzurra, produced by Fandango, about the national ski team in the 1970s; Silvio Soldini’s new film, Le assaggiatrici, written by Cristina Comencini about Hitler’s food tasters; a project from Kino Produzioni that is part musical - part dramatic comedy, starring Geraldine and Oona Chaplin; and Wilhelm Tell, a Swiss-Italian-UK co-production with executive production from Matteo Rovere’s Groenlandia, a historical drama written and directed by Nick Hamm.  Last year meanwhile we hosted the shoot of Lubo, directed by Giorgio Diritti.

On the activity front, we are working on a programme for short films that will demonstrate our commitment to young talent in the cinema and will debut in June 2023.  The TSFM Summer Event was created from the partnership between IDM and Turin’s Talents and Short Film Market and aims to bring international and local professionals together and to facilitate access to the industry for new talent, with pitches, panels, masterclasses and networking.