email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

Sorrentino & Virzì International

by 

- Italian Cinema's good stories can also work beyond national borders

Over the months preceding the Festival de Cannes, the RAI Com titles kept a good track record for the first quarter of 2015, and many of the Italian films that made themselves noticed during 2014 festivals have already been sold  widely. RAI Com will now land in Cannes with a film catalogue brimming with new productions.

Italian Genre films were especially well received by the international audiences. One of the swiftest successes from last year has been Francesco Munzi's startling look at 'ndrangheta, the ferocious, Calabria-based mafia. Before landing in Toronto, the premiere of Black Souls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Munzi
film profile
]
 at Venice Film Festival yielded sales in the main territories. On the 10th of April, it was successfully distributed in the USA and Canada with Vitagraph Films. The film, produced by Cinemaundici and Babe Film has already been released – or soon will be – also in Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), United Kingdom (Vertigo Films), Spain (with Betta Pictures on March 27th, where it was received very positively by critics and audiences), Portugal (il Sorpasso), Switzerland (Xenix Film), France (Bellissima Films), Norway (As Fidalgo Film Distr.), Taiwan (Join Entertainment), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe), Serbia (Mcf Magacom), Croatia, Slovenia (Fivia) and Albania, Estonia (Estinfilm) and Turkey.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The Dinner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivano De Matteo
film profile
]
(I Nostri Ragazzi), the drama directed by Ivano de Matteo and based on Herman Koch's international best seller on the moral disintegration of a bourgeois family, was similarly well received by international buyers. Also presented at the Venice Film Festival, the film produced by Rodeo Drive was sold to Film Movement for USA and Canada, and then Australia and New Zealand, France (Bellissima Films), Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (Arti Film), Greece (Rosebud.21), Turkey (Filmarti Ltd.), Taiwan (Swallow Wings Films) and Korea.

RAI Com's expectations for the first important leg of the film market circuit have materialised at Berlin's European Film Market, held earlier this year in February. Amongst the titles that were most sold abroad is Ermanno Olmi's Greenery Will Bloom Again [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a reflection on the futility of war on the year marking the 100th anniversary of World War I. Child Film purchased it for Japan, and the film will also be distributed in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.

In Berlin, Latin Lover [+see also:
trailer
making of
interview: Cristina Comencini
film profile
]
by Cristina Comencini also gathered a lot of attention. It was purchased by Wanda for Spain and Denk for Turkey. Latin Lover will also be distributed in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Albania, Taiwan (Swallow Films), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films).

Now, RAI Com is gearing up to present a rich catalogue of new titles to the Cannes market. Amongst the most awaited is Cinderella the Cat (Gatta Cenerentola), the new animated film by Alessandro Rak, currently in production. The young director's debut, The Art of Happiness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Rak
film profile
]
, has won the EFA as Best Animated Film of 2014. Cinderella the Cat has brought together once again the same production and creative team.

“Ever since we relaunched Rai's commercial activities under the RAI Com title last year, we managed to ensure our Italian productions receive the international recognition they deserve” commented Mattia Oddone, the RAI Com international sales associate. “Awareness about the quality and the international commercial viability of Italian productions is growing, both in terms of films and TV content. We were pleased to see established national talents, like Francesco Munzi, conquer the international market. At the  Marché du Film in Cannes, we will continue to emphasize the animation genre, a field in which Italy has the utmost talent, as Cinderella the Cat clearly shows. On the whole, we are confident that, in spite of the varying conditions of the market, this year's Marché will mark another step forward in our international strategy.”

One of the jewels in the crown of Italian cinema, Nanni Moretti's anticipated My Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile
]
, is already in the catalogue of French Films Distribution. Coming four years after Habemus Papam [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile
]
, the film is about a successful director with a catastrophic private life (interpreted by Margherita Buy) shooting a film starring an important US actor in the lead role (John Turturro). Moretti will play the part of the protagonist's brother. The Parisian company has already sealed several deals. My Mother will be released in Austria (Thimfilm), Belgium (Cineart), Brazil (California Filmes), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), France (Le Pacte), UK (Artificial Eye), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Japan (Kino Films), the Netherlands (Cineart), Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), Sweden (Folkets Bio).

Last year, Films Distributions obtained an enormous success with international sales of Salvo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabio Grassadonia and Anton…
interview: Sara Serraiocco
film profile
]
, the first feature of Sicilian directors Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassandonia, winners of the Cannes 2013 Semaine de la Critique. Today, its catalogue can count on Francesca Archibugi's An Italian name [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the Italian version of What's in a name? [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Alexandre de La Patellière. It also lists Alaska by Claudio Cupellini, currently in post-production, co-produced with 2.4.7 Films, the French production company owned by Xavier Rigaul e Marc-Antoine Robert. Starring Elio Germano, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey and Alba Rohrwacher, Alaska is the story of Fausto and Nadine, two youths who meet for the first time in the salons of a Parisian hotel and discover themselves to be frail, lonely and obsessed with a seemingly unreachable idea of happiness.

The other Italian family jewel, Paolo Sorrentino's Youth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
, can also be found on Pathé's catalogue. This is his second film in the English language after This Must Be The Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
(sold by Pathé, like The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
as well). Aside from the director's talent, the cast lends the film a certain appeal: it stars Michael Caine, Rachel Weisz, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda, Madalina Ghenea. The new film from the Oscar winning director is set in an elegant hotel in the Alps, where two lifelong friends in their eighties are spending their springtime holidays. Fred is a retired composer and orchestra conductor, Mick a director who is still working. At the time of writing, Pathé has already placed the film in a dozen European and Asian countries.Youth will be released Switzerland (Praesens Film), Germany (Wild Bunch Germany), Estonia (A-One Films), Spain (Vertigo Films), France (Pathe Distribution), UK (Studiocanal), Hong Kong (Edko Films Ltd), South Korea (Green Narae Media), Lithuania and Latvia (A-One Films), Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (Wild Bunch), Poland (Gutek Film), Romania (Independenta Film), Russia and Ukraine (A-One Films).

Pathé is also betting on another new film produced by Indigo, Piero Messina's debut feature L'Attesa, currently in post-production and starring Juliette Binoche, Lou De Laâge, Giorgio Colangeli, Antonio Folletto. Ferzan Ozpetek's Fasten Your Seatbelts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ferzan Ozpetek
film profile
]
and The Invisible Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gabriele Salvatores
film profile
]
by Oscar winning director Gabriele Salvatores can also be found on Pathé's catalogue.

The German company The Match Factory is already obtaining good results with Laura Bispuri's Sworn Virgin [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Laura Bispuri
film profile
]
, in competition at the latest Berlinale. The film starring Alba Rohrwacher will be released by Abc - Cinemien Distribution in Belgium and the Netherlands, Pretty Pictures in France, Ama Films in Greece, Midas Filmes in Portugal and Mcf Megacom Film in Serbia. With Alice Rohrwacher's The Wonders [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
interview: Tiziana Soudani
film profile
]
, Grand Prix at Cannes 2014, The Match Factory has reached at least 25 territories over the last couple of months, including Hong Kong (Edko Films), Japan (Twin Co.), Taiwan (Maison Motion), Canada (Filmswelike) and Argentina (RJ Publicidade).

And a huge success for Paolo Virzì's Les Opportunistes too, one of the most interesting films from last season and Italy's Oscar candidate for Best Foreign Film. Based on Stephen Amidon's novel of the same name, it counts names such as Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Valeria Golino in its cast. Les Opportunistes is sold internationally by Bac Films and established a true record of over 40 countries. “This demonstrates that, in this historical moment, our stories work,” reflects Virzì. “Even those that struggle to find a release in Italy: look at Salvo, internationally renowned, but virtually unknown in Italy”.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy