Italy’s Minister of Culture Vows to Support the Film Industry

Italy’s Minister of Culture claims that he has been “passionate” about cinema his complete life. 

Gennaro Sangiuliano, a former Rai govt who was appointed tradition minister by right-wing Premier Giorgia Meloni in 2022, mentioned he plans to preserve investing closely in grants to the Venice Film Pageant, and thru a beneficiant program of tax credit he additionally needs to promote Italy to worldwide producers.  

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sangiuliano mentioned he’s glad with Italy’s funding of almost $800 million a yr in a program of tax credit and selective grants for TV and movie producers. When it emerged final yr that some Italian producers had been abusing the system, Sangiuliano took steps to tighten the guidelines. However the fund remains to be massive, and it offers producers with up to 40 % of the manufacturing funds of many movies shot in Italian territory. 

As Scott Roxborough and Giammaria Tammaro reported in THR on August 27, underneath the latest Italian authorities guidelines, worldwide co-productions will face an €18 million ($19.7 million) cap on tax credit score payouts for tasks the place not less than 30 % of the manufacturing is made in Italy. Native productions shall be capped at €9 million ($10 million). The general fund for movie and audiovisual investments in 2024. nevertheless, stays unchanged at about €700 million ($782 million).

The Minister of Culture, in the meantime, offers greater than half of the Venice Film Pageant‘s annual working funds, spending about $15 million a yr.    

Sangiuliano calls cinema “the form of art that is closest to people, the one that really excites people, and especially the younger generations.” He brags that this yr the Venice Film Pageant is as soon as once more a star-studded worldwide showcase. “Just scrolling through the list of participants of the stars who come to Venice, one gets a sense of how important and relevant this event is,” he says.

“As a government, we are working hard to support the film industry. We have worked to rationalize, and to make more ethical, the mechanisms for allocating resources to cinema, such as the tax credit, but also our selective contributions. We are satisfied with the work we have done. Cinema is a great dream, and each of us relives his life through the films he has appreciated over the years,” the minister mentioned when requested how dedicated he was to tax credit and incentives for movie manufacturing. 

The Italian minister, naturally, additionally in all probability wished to point out Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino and Matteo Garrone, however he restrained himself and as a substitute mentioned that “Italy is proud of the excellence of those in the Italian film industry, and we want to support this sector. Today, Italy is producing extraordinary and talented directors who are making a name for themselves worldwide.”