New funds for the Emilia-Romagna film cluster on the way

Exactly ten years have passed since Law 20 of 2014, with which Emilia-Romagna launched a reasoned and organised relaunch of the film and audiovisual sector in the territory, recognising its function as a driving force not only for cultural and social, but also economic growth. The teamwork between the councillorships for Culture, Training, Production Activities and Tourism of the municipalities and the Region is bearing fruit: the sector's numbers and recognition on the most acclaimed red carpets are growing. So much so that in the latest three-year programme 2024-2026 it is written in black and white the objective of making Emilia-Romagna "a reference centre for cinema in Italy". These are the words with which the councillor for Culture in Viale Aldo Moro, Mauro Felicori, presented the new plan of action, which aims to boost not only regional productions but also collaborations abroad, in particular with France and Germany; increase the distribution of film products; enhance participation in international festivals; and strengthen the collaboration of the Tourist Destinations with the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission (the regional body in charge of attracting productions and offering them services and logistical facilities).

The seventh art in fact generates wealth and local employment with an important multiplier effect, even in places far from the jet-set, filling hotel facilities in low season and creating tourist appeal for marginal locations chosen as film settings, such as Roccabianca in the Parma area. The Region calculates that every public euro invested to attract productions generates a private induced revenue worth 3 to 4 times. This is the reason why the regional resources for filmmaking are increasing and the 'Cineporto dell'Emilia-Romagna', the Cinecittà of the Via Emilia inaugurated two years ago in Fiorano Modenese, was born. A unique hub in terms of space and technology, just a few minutes away from the Modena Nord motorway exit, built on the ashes of an old tile factory thanks to a private investment of over 4 million euro by Scarabeo Entertainment (the production company of director and screenwriter Alessandra Stefani, daughter of Franco Stefani, the local entrepreneur who revolutionised the worldwide production of ceramics). It is here that Michael Mann did part of the filming of Ferrari, last year's $90 million film with 400 people on set in one day's shooting. And it is here that small and medium-sized productions and industry professionals find an 800 square metre mobile sound stage and twin audio and video post-production rooms that are at the forefront of world cinematography.

"In mid-October we will close the 2024 programming of the calls for national companies (two sessions, one in progress) and of the call for regional companies, only then will we communicate the amount of funds approved", this is how Fabio Abagnato, head of the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission, explains why no figures on the regional resources available this year are yet circulating. In the last three-year period 2021-2023, the 16.8 million euros of contributions allocated through Lr. 20/14 alone marked an increase of almost 9% compared to the previous period, between film productions (especially real cinema) and promotion, with 126 financed projects and increasingly more substantial works, as confirmed by their average cost, tripled from 500 thousand euros in 2018 to 1.5 million in 2023, and their participation in the most quoted festivals, Locarno, New York, Toronto, Rome. And the economic impact on the territory has in turn almost doubled, from 25 million euros in the three-year period 2018-20 to 42 million in the latest programme. Suffice it to think of the echo of successes Made in Emilia-Romagna such as 'Kidnapped' by Marco Bellocchio, the Diabolik trilogy signed by the Manetti Bros, Fabio De Luigi with '50 km per hour', Gianni Amelio with 'Lord of the Ants', Cristina Comencini with 'The Children's Train'.

"We are not Turin or Rome, in the region the requests for film sets that arrive are scattered, there is the Riviera, the Po Delta, Ferrara,' Abagnato points out. 'Bologna excels, also because it has no rivals in film consumption, with festivals such as Cinema Ritrovato and Biografilm. The sustainability of a work and its economic impact are important, but cinema remains for us a primarily cultural issue, and the decision to support the Audiovisual Fund on the Culture Department and not on Tourism or Economic Development proves this'.