24/03/2016 - The children’s film on the Ötzi mummy is one of the eight projects being funded by the South Tyrol Fund with a total of €1.8 billion

A magical encounter between the young boy Pip and Ötzi, a 5300-year-old mummy who reawakens, turning out to be a powerful wizard. The children’s film by Stefano Lodovichi (In fondo al bosco [+see also:
trailer
interview: Manuela Cacciamani
film profile]) with the temporary title of Pip Fischer and the secret of Ötzi, starring Valeria Golino and produced by One More Pictures, is being supported by the IDM – the South Tyrol Film Fund & Commission with production funding of €500,000.00, and will be filmed entirely in Bolzano. 

The IDM, which, since January 2016, has managed the provincial Fund for Film and Television Productions and the Film Commission, has approved new funding for at the recommendation of a committee of experts led by Christiana Wertz, Head of the Film Fund and Commission. Of the eight projects, six are from Italy – two of which are being managed by production companies in South Tyrol – one is from Germany and one is from Switzerland.

La Sarraz Pictures will receive pre-production support of €25,000.00 for La Guardia (temporary title), directed by Giulio Ricciarelli, the Italian-German director who last year made his debut with the highly acclaimed Labyrinth of Lies [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
film profile], which was chosen as the German candidate at the 2016 Oscars. The film is being co-produced by German company Tellfilmand is also one of the seven winners of the 2016 Italy and Germany Co-production Development Fund of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA).

Another Italian project to receive funding from the South Tyrol Film Fund & Commission is the fourth season of Un passo dal cielo, the successful television series produced by Lux Vide and shot in Braies, San Candido and Brunico, with €500,000.00 for production.

Staying with Italian productions, pre-production funding of €20,000.00 has been granted to Hogar (temporary title), written and directed by Maura Delpero and produced by Disparte in co-production with Vivo Film and Argentinian company El Campo Cine. Then there are two South Tyrolean projects, both of which are being supported in their production stage: Alpenbrennen (temporary title), written by Natja Brunckhorst, directed by Tobias Wiemann and produced by Bolzano-based company helios sustainable films in co-production with German company Lieblingsfilm with funding of €480,000.00 from the Film Fund & Commission; and documentary Das System Milch (temporary title), written and directed by South Tyrolean Andreas Pichler and produced by Bolzano-based company Miramonte Film. The project, which will be filmed partly in the area around Malles, has been granted €65,000.00 in funding.

Then there’s German production Rattenrennen(temporary title) by Marijan D. Vajda, produced by Preview Enterprises in co-production with Austrian company SK-Film und Fernsehproduktion and Bulgarian company Waterfront Film. The Film Fund & Commission of South Tyrol is supporting the project with production funding of  €250,000.00. Bolzano and its surrounding area was chosen to recreate Pristina, where the story is set. Last but not least there’s TV series School of Champions (temporary title) written by Clemens Aufderklamm and developed at RACCONTI#2, the Script Lab of the Film Commission of South Tyrol. Pre-production funding of €35,000.00 has just been confirmed for the project, which will be produced by Swiss company Catpics.

(Translated from Italian)