The times are long past since the fearless Brancaleone da Norcia for the Feudo di Aurocastro in Apulia, passing through the Calabria borgo of Le Castella near Isola Capo Rizzuto. For years, Calabria lost out as a choice of film location to other places considered more “cinema friendly”. However, things have been changing for a while.
The Fondazione Calabria Film Commission was established with Regional Law of 11/1/2006. Results started arriving when Lu.Ca, an agreement between Lucana and Calabria Film Commission, was set up on 5/9/2016, with the intention of attracting productions to the two territories. The many successful productions financed include: The Millionairs, short film by Claudio Santamaria produced by Goon Films which won the Special Nastro d’argento for Best Directorial Debut and ‘A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano which has collected prizes and recognition from the Cannes Film Festival, David di Donatello, Nastri d’argento and was chosen to represent Italy at the 2018 Academy Awards.
The first announcement published by the Calabria Film Commission gathered 49 projects: those admitted for financing included 26 feature-length films, 5 documentaries, 6 short films, 2 international TV series and 1 TV format, thereby transforming Calabria into a set for national and international productions, in addition to the support given to local operators.
The second call was published by the Film Commission in 2019, as three sessions presented at the principal film festivals: Berlin, Cannes and Venice. The response, a good 70 projects, has transformed Calabria into a central location for the film industry. Today the working sets require more professionals than presently exist in the Region, the only area in which the demand has overtaken the request. Every euro invested by the Regione Calabria to attract national and international productions brings a return to the territory of €5.49.
The intention to continue in this strategy was confirmed on 21 June 2019 with the approval of Regional Law n.21 on Interventi regionali per il sistema del cinema e dell’audiovisivo in Calabria (regional interventions for the film and audio-visual system in Calabria) accompanied by a programme of activity for the 2019-2021 period and a fund of €11.43 million. A system made law that outlines: support for the development and production of audio-visual works, cinema activity, art house cinema, promotion of audio-visual and film culture, support at events and festivals, incentives for the presence of the Film Commission at industry events to promote Calabria as a filming location, support for professional training and the recovery and cataloguing of regional film and audio-visual heritage.