12/01/2006

The General Direction for Cinema of the Ministry of Culture (MiBAC), along with Cinecittà Holding, have approved special financing for the marketing of Don’t Tell (o.t. La bestia nel cuore) by Cristina Comencini. ''This decision is all the more significant,” said Cultural Minister Rocco Buttiglione, “in that is was made during a moment of serious financial difficulties and that, nevertheless, in this case, covers over 80% of the film’s marketing costs ".

Produced by Cattleya and RAI Cinema with the UK (Aquarius Film), Spain (Alquimia Cinema) and France (Babe Productions), with foreign sales behind handled by TF1 International, Don’t Tell is the Italian nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, the final list for which will be announced this January 31. Comencini’s film will be distributed in the US by Lions Gate.

The film recently was also enthusiastically received by audiences at the Palm Springs Festival and at the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, after picking up the Coppa Volpi Award for Best Actress (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) at the 2004 Venice Film Festival and enjoying a run at numerous international festivals. "If an Italian product manages to assert itself, the entire domestic sector gains a great advantage", added Buttiglione.

Cattleya producer Riccardo Tozzi had complained in an interview about the lack of international marketing support from Italy. “We have been stranded by Italy,” said Tozzi, “with the exception of the contribution of the Ministry, which did what little it could do at that point. Cristina’s film has great potential, we realized that after it screened in the US, but it is a poor relative, it is not being sustained by any advertising strategy, much less a strong national campaign abroad. This is what happens to all of our films and I have become more aware of this than ever before, to the point where several friends and I are thinking of rolling up our shirtsleeves to begin working in this direction”.

(Translated from Italian)