We need to create a Made in Italy brand for audiovisuals

Starting today, the world of cinema is flocking to Cannes: the 78th edition of the film festival begins (until 24 May) and in parallel the Marché du Film, the international film market, where negotiations and film presentations take place, a parallel event to the festival at the same time and in the same place, at the Palais du festival. It is considered one of the most important film markets in the world, with an average of 15,000 delegates from over 131 countries, 250 industry events and a business volume of billions of dollars.

Gloria Giorgianni, founder and CEO of Anele, an audiovisual, multimedia, television and film content production company, will also be there. Founded in 2013 by Giorgianni, Anele currently employs five people (four women) and recorded a production volume of €8.7m in 2024 compared to €4.5m in 2023.

Productions include films dedicated to the figures of Pertini, Iotti, Calvino and Mondadori. "I see myself as a cultural entrepreneur, I try to produce films that adhere to social, cultural and political content in which I believe, turning them into entertainment," explains Giorgianni, who also lives her mission as a delegate of Apa, the industry's television producers' association, in this sense. "Within this context I propose to create an Italian Made in Italy audiovisual pole. Today we have a market that needs to grow, which would need a fund that combines public and private resources and that invests in companies, giving a premium to Italian companies, even perhaps with a view to aggregation, to create an Italian audiovisual pole where production, distribution, publishing, media are integrated and that has nothing to envy to the large international groups. We need to make public resources, starting with the Rai licence fee, the Mic investments with tax credit and other contributions, interact more and better with private resources. It is clear that we must have the market on our side, because when the market is small, companies are smaller and we must work to expand it with the endorsement of the institutions'. And he launches a message: 'I would like Confindustria to make the audiovisual world more central, because I realise that it does not have the relevance it deserves. I am convinced that audiovisuals can enter a value system together with the world of tourism. For example, as Apa we are working on a big research on everything that the audiovisual world has created in terms of induced activities in Italy. Starting from Montalbano in eastern Sicily, passing through Don Matteo in Umbria to Sandokan in Calabria. In my own small way, I shot L'altro ispettore in Lucca, directed by Paola Randi'. It is a series on accidents at work that will be aired on RAI between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. Alessio Vassallo, who plays the inspector, deals with accidents and deaths at work. 'Today,' Giorgianni continues, 'in the lands of Montalbano there are restaurants inspired by the Sicilian inspector and tours of the places where the fiction was filmed. The audiovisual industry is part of an induced activity and a GDP, which Italian tourism cannot do without, just as we cannot do without working with the territories, particularly in some regions where film commissions are very active. But the project must be put into a system to improve everyone's performance and to create a stronger connection between the audiovisual world and the territories, which are closely connected. We need to have a stronger industrial approach to tell people what we really are, i.e., an industry that is growing in terms of employment, including female employment. We need to create the Made in Italy brand of audiovisuals with a strong identity like that of Parmesan cheese, and reverse the trend of being bought. We cultural entrepreneurs act in a very complicated sector today, especially due to the arrival of platforms, so it is absolutely essential to focus on the story that belongs to us, for an identity, economic and political issue'.