29/10/2009

After 20 years at the Ministry of Culture, Gaetano Blandini is leaving his post as Director General of Cinema Direction to take on the position of Director General of SIAE, the state company that protects and exercises copyright laws.

Blandini will be replaced by Nicola Borrelli, currently head of Ministry’s General Affairs, Programming, Accounts and Personnel section.

"Gaetano Blandini was a staunch supporter of Italian cinema", said the National Union for Film Journalists in a statement. "A true strategist who knew how to look beyond bureaucracy and get past the rationale of state assistance with a policy supporting Italian cinema. Journalists, like many businesspeople and film industry figures, hope that his policies oriented at redesigning public funding in cinema– previously with the tax credit and tax shelter, in the future with a stronger role from the Regions – will find continuity in his successor".