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Italian Film Business Lashes Out at Political Delay


The Italian film industry is fighting to stay vibrant amid political and market disruption.

At a packed protest event held in early April at Rome’s Cinema Adriano multiplex, industry figures from all sectors – including producers, writers, actors and big-name directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Marco Bellocchio – lashed out against having to wait endlessly for the culture ministry to approve new guidelines so production companies can apply for the 40% tax credits that basically drive the business. Meanwhile, Italy’s top producers of the younger generation, Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani, who are behind two films in this year’s Cannes competition – respectively Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” and Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov” – have amicably parted ways with Fremantle and re-partnered on a new still unnamed shingle, details of which remain under wraps. Key titles on Be Water’s debut distribution slate are Paul Schrader’s Palme d’Or contender “Oh Canada,” Nicolas Cage horror movie “Longlegs,” directed by Osgood Perkins, and Victor Kossakovsky’s Berlin doc “Architecton.”

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