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FESTIVALS Italy

Venice - Rome: A showdown that’s good for the market

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They swear relations are great, and it’s true, but the underground battle for conquering films and market space that has begun between the Venice Film Festival and the fledgling Rome International Film Festival is physiological. If anything, because of their “proximity” to one another.

The former, at its 63rd edition (August 30-September 9, 2006) must deal with budget cuts of approximately 30%. The latter (October 13-21), desired by Rome’s Mayor Walter Veltroni, is starting off strong, with backing from private sponsors who guarantee a €7m budget.

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At Cannes, even the president of the Venice Biennale, Davide Croff and the festival’s artistic director, Marco Müller, seemed very confident with regard to their sponsors: "The private sector [funding] is increasing to 25%. We’ve confirmed large sponsors like Wella and Telecom, and Fiat will be present through Lancia".

For Müller, Venice’s positioning is growing increasingly stronger for international professionals, thanks also to the success of the 2005 edition, with 23 Oscar nominations for films presented at the festival. "Any international producer or distributor thinks of whether taking their film to Cannes or to Venice. The success of last year’s films, even at the box office (such as Brokeback Mountain and The Corpse Bride), confirm Venice’s importance: the festival dates are perfect for film releases".

Exactly: the dates. And the market space. For Croff, the new (and long-awaited) Palazzo del Cinema on Venice’s Lido is not an immediate prospect, but a goal. Nevertheless, while waiting for larger structures, the Industry Office will be expanded in terms of services and space for buyers and sellers. And, in a surprising move, Müller has signed a strategic consulting contract with Edith Grant, the former US representative at the Cannes Film Market.

Rome, however, is sharpening its knives in preparation of its "Business Street", which will host international industry professional in elegant rooms around Via Veneto. US film industry “bible” Variety will help out as a "media partner”.

"I don’t think the Rome Film Festival was founded because of industry demands", was the brusque comment by Jérôme Paillard, director of the Cannes Film Market. "I don’t think that the film industry is pushing for the creation of a new festival or market. There was, however, a need for Rome itself to have an event of this kind".

Paola Corvino, president of UNEFA, the film exporters’ association, does not agree. "We’re following the development of the Rome Festival very closely and we’re working so that, during the event, an entire day of screenings will be held in one of the city’s cinemas, of Italian films to offer international buyers".

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(Translated from Italian)

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