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DISTRIBUTION Italy

The future of arthouse cinema at Asti

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Is arthouse cinema in crisis? The question is legitimate, especially in Italy, where the high number of recently flopped titles has led even successful distributors such as Valerio De Paolis to rethink their strategies, while others – such as Cesare Petrillo and Vieri Razzini, who head the small but aggressive Teodora Film – denounce the change of course (and line-ups) of many arthouse distributors.

This will be one of many issues discussed on October 12 in Asti, where the traditional Incontri del Cinema d’Essai opened yesterday with the official premiere of French-Lebanese film Caramel [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and several screenings reserved for industry professionals only.

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The seventh edition of the initiative, which is organised by industry umbrella association AGIS and FICE (Italian Federation of Arthouse Cinemas), has registered some 500 participants, from among distributors, producers, directors and actors.

Programmed events include round tables (on the documentary and on the relationship between filmmakers and cinemas, in collaboration with Doc/it and Centoautori) and numerous films for exhibitors only, who will see for the time in Asti 14 of the strongest films from their winter programming slate, beginning with Things We Lost in the Fire, the first US-made film by Danish director Susanne Bier, one of the more highly anticipated titles of the upcoming RomeFilmFest.

Other films include Cannes titles The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Julian Schnabel and animated film Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile
]
; from Venice, Kenneth Branagh’s Sleuth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson and two local hits (Don’t Think About It [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Gianni Zanasi and Il passaggio della linea by Pietro Marcello); along with the intense Jimmy della collina by Enrico Pau and Roberto Faenza’s period blockbuster I Vicerè [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

The screenings will also be accompanied by awards: the arthouse films of the year are Ermanno Olmi’s One Hundred Nails [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile
]
by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; best new director is Giorgio Diritti for The Wind Blows Round; Francesca Calvelli best editor (In Memory of Myself [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
); Ezio Bosso best composer (Red Like the Sky [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
); and Francesca Cima best producer (Indigo Film).

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(Translated from Italian)

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