RAI Cinema’s Paolo Del Brocco Talks Venice Debuts – Deadline

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a characteristic the place we shine a highlight on key executives and corporations exterior of the U.S. shaking up the offshore market. Because the Venice Movie Competition kicks off right this moment, we’re talking with RAI Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco about a few of the firm’s 24 titles that includes within the competition this 12 months in addition to his ongoing problem to lure Italian audiences again into the cinema after a rocky post-pandemic interval. 

RAI Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco is not any stranger to the Venice Film Festival, having headed up the movie arm of the highest Italian public broadcaster Rai for greater than a decade. However, in some ways, this 12 months feels extra important than ever for the highest exec as he touches down on the Lido to take pleasure in native and worldwide tasks on the large display screen at a time when the cinema sector has arguably by no means been extra in flux.

“It’s an odd time,” admits Del Brocco. “We’re nonetheless undecided of what all of the solutions are however our directive is, and at all times has been, to work arduous to make higher motion pictures that may shock audiences and lure them again into the cinema.”

Lengthy thought of some of the necessary cornerstones of the Italian movie business, RAI Cinema invests in slightly below half of Italy’s homegrown movies per 12 months and it distributes its personal titles in addition to third-party productions through its distribution arm 01 Distribution. This 12 months, Rai Cinema has 24 titles debuting in Venice sections, together with Orizzonti.

This 12 months, the corporate has backed the manufacturing of three titles chosen in Venice’s predominant competitors this 12 months: Gianni Amelio’s Il Signore Delle Formiche (Lord of The Ants), a director the corporate has labored with for greater than 20 years; Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Chiara, one other longtime collaborator of the corporate; and Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica. It would distribute Amelio’s and Nicchiarelli’s titles in Italy and likewise has Italian rights for Florian Zeller’s competitors title The Son.

“Our objective has at all times been concerning the number of tales, genres and directing kinds,” says Del Brocco. “The movies now we have in Venice replicate these facets and we’re very happy about this. Our differentiation technique within the manufacturing discipline has been confirmed another time by this choice and we’re pleased with this.”

Up to now 12 months, RAI Cinema was concerned in round 80 characteristic movies and, says Del Brocco, has a forecasted funding of €85M ($85.05M) for the 12 months. One development that the corporate has seen within the final 4 to 5 years is that the general manufacturing worth of movies has gone up and, subsequently, RAI’s funding in tasks has change into part of a movie’s total monetary plan.

“We’re answerable for selling the nice Italian auteurs and, on the identical time, the brand new filmmaker generations,” he says. “Many big-status administrators began with us from the start, and we all know there may be an business that should develop and we have to create jobs, foster new expertise and generate alternatives. If we don’t, we received’t uncover the brand new Matteo Garrone or Paolo Sorrentino, the brand new skills and producers that our business wants.”

It’s not simply Italian fare that RAI Cinema places coin into: final 12 months the corporate introduced it will be co-producing Roman Polanski’s The Palace, which ruffled feathers within the business within the publish #MeToo period. RAI Cinema backed Polanski’s earlier title The Officer and the Spy and Del Brocco has gone on document a number of instances defending the choice by stating that Rai is concentrated on the “creative facet of the tales” and “not the private tales.”

Up to now three years, RAI has backed 68 movies and documentaries with feminine administrators on the helm – a powerful uptick on previous investments. “We consider the potential of the tasks – not simply the gender – and we’ve supported a lot of feminine administrators and I feel it’s a development that can develop an increasing number of on the horizon of our cinematography.”

Along with championing feminine voices reminiscent of Nicciarelli, RAI has labored with skills reminiscent of Alice Rohrwacher, Valeria Golino, Ginerva Elkann, Francesca Archibugi, Emma Dante, Barbara Cupisti, Paola Randi and lots of others.

Having labored with RAI since 1991, Del Brocco notes that the Italian sector is at a pivotal second of change proper now because the enterprise appears to be like to stability a booming manufacturing sector coupled with a declining theatrical distribution enterprise and it’s a problem he’s been massively vocal about within the final 12 months.

Italy’s sturdy 40% tax credit score coupled with the calls for of native language content material for streaming platform imply that the well being of Italy’s manufacturing business is “in actually fine condition.”

“Even because of help from the cinema regulation (Directorate-Common for Cinema and Audiovisual of the Ministry of Tradition), there had been important development in manufacturing, and we’re close to to totally employment [in the sector], which is an enormous success.”

However, he says, it’s been a difficult interval for the Italian theatrical enterprise, notably with the territory going through problems with luring native audiences again into theaters in addition to points surrounding windowing. As an illustration, Italian field workplace noticed greater than a 50% decline in 2021 in comparison with 2020, one of many solely main European territories to undergo such a drop.

Comparatively, earlier than the pandemic rolled out throughout the globe, Italian cinema represented a 37% market share within the interval from December 2019 – February 2020 earlier than cinemas have been compelled to shut. At present, market share for Italian product is “very low,” says Del Brocco, noting that “it will be a great goal to purpose at a steady 25% of Italian movies on the whole field workplace.”

“We’re very distant from reaching this goal proper now,” says Del Brocco. “The streaming platforms performed an necessary function throughout the pandemic – they saved alive the flame of movies and tv sequence however the result’s that right this moment we favor to remain on a settee versus going out, driving and parking to look at a film.

“We will say that, particularly in Italy, the pandemic has made the general public unaccustomed to the theater and we should work arduous to make movies that may persuade the general public to go to the cinema and pay for a ticket.”

Moreover, round 500 theaters in Italy have been closed completely because the Covid-19 outbreak and Del Brocco estimates that 2022 will see income losses of round €600M ($600M) in comparison with earlier than the pandemic.

With that in thoughts, Del Brocco, together with Medusa head Giampaolo Letta, has been main the cost in demanding the federal government step in and help the exhibition sector, insisting that theatrical releases play an enormous function in a movie’s life cycle.

Each have urged the federal government to double its 90-day window to 180 days, cut back native tax rebates from 40% to 30% on movie productions made for streaming solely and insisted that the beneficiant 40% rebate be reserved for less than these movies dedicated to theatrical distribution.

“The initiative got here from the branches of the 2 most necessary Italian broadcasters who, as a substitute of limiting themselves to the manufacturing of content material for TV, care about watching the flicks in a cinema earlier than their houses,” he says. “If the primary a part of the movie business is in disaster – if the field workplace could be very low – that’s a hazard to the entire business.”

Del Brocco is a powerful believer that the time is now to work to enhance the well being of the native cinema sector. In any other case, he says, “our future can have nice issues.”

“As public producers, we have to defend our cultural business and Italian motion pictures are struggling an excessive amount of proper now,” he says. “Native cinema could also be area of interest in plenty of European international locations but when we don’t help them and their launch in theaters, we’re in all probability going to lose the identification of our cinema. Possibly it received’t matter when it comes to enterprise, nevertheless it issues massively when it comes to storytelling and identification.”

He provides, “On the finish of the day, after all this can be a enterprise, and we’re in a aggressive market the place now we have to have in mind financial traces of revenue and loss. However we’re fortunate as a result of at RAI our objective is admittedly to take part in serving to cultural manufacturing and the native business to enhance. That is our North Star that we observe day by day and, even at instances if it isn’t very encouraging, we have to keep centered on this mandate greater than ever to construct the cinema enterprise again up once more.”

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