After benefiting from a prolonged period of rapid growth, Italy's film industry is facing a forced slowdown. The country's right-wing government plans to amend several key regulations, the most important of which is that tax incentives for film and television are currently stalled. production.
At a packed protest event held earlier this month at Rome's Cinema Adriano multiplex, industry figures from all walks of life, including producers, screenwriters, actors, and big-name directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Marco Verrocchio, They strongly objected to having to wait endlessly for the government's requests. Approving new guidelines to allow production companies to claim a 40% tax credit that essentially boosts their business. Others are concerned that their projects will not comply with the new eligibility criteria, which remain vague.
“We are waiting for a new regulatory framework, but more importantly we need to know how much money the government will give us,” said producer and head of prominent Italian indie Lucky Red. cum distributor Andrea Occhipinti said during an event in Rome.
Italy's Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said that in purely financial terms, the government expects the tax bill to end up around 700 million euros (about $744 million) this year from the 2024 tax credit allowance. The company made it clear that it plans to cut only around 50 million euros from the deduction allowance. The problem is that it is still unclear when this tax credit will actually become available, as the government (which appears to be divided on the issue) continues to keep the industry waiting.
“When it comes to tax credits, we want speed and certainty above all, because the film industry can't wait,” Occhipinti recently said at a film industry roundtable in Ortigia, Sicily over the weekend. . Further delays, he added, “would be a failure for other countries that are now deploying this great tool as an incentive to attract production and produce more locally.”
As an example, Malta recently increased its cash tax rebate from 27% to 40%.
As several Italian industry observers have pointed out, Italy's 40% tax credit was used in the glory days of the 1950s and 60s, when the radically renovated Cinecittà studio was known as Hollywood. It became a decisive factor in bringing Hollywood productions back to Italy on a comparable scale. On the Tiber River. More than 40% of Italy's tax credits in the past few years have been fully accounted for by movies such as HBO's Sicily-set season 2 of The White Lotus and Steven Zaillian's Ripley, recently released on Netflix and Amazon. The award is given to international films shot in Italy. Prime's upcoming Gladiator series “The Dying Ones” was shot entirely on Cinecittà.
One of the issues holding things back is the right-wing government's desire to encourage the production of films and TV series with nationalist narratives, with plans to allocate around 52 million euros of tax credits to films. The fact is that there is. There are also television productions about stories and characters that, as Sangiuliano said, are “tied to Italy's national identity.” Another problem pointed out by the Minister of Culture is that, according to Ministry of Culture statistics, 345 of the 459 films eligible for Italian tax credits in 2022 and 2023 were released under the previous centre-left government. This is considered a waste of tax credit resources. It was not released theatrically. In some cases, it may simply be due to streaming or direct access to TV.
“Although our film industry is growing, it is still small on the international stage,'' says the director of Leone Film Group, a production and distribution company founded in 1989 by his father, Spaghetti Western master Sergio Leone. Producer Raffaella Leone spoke in Ortigia in March 2018 and said: Panel on Italian tax credits.
“As a producer, allocating 52 million euros to a product that emphasizes Italian characteristics is not what our country needs,” Leone added. “I think we need to make more films for the international market. That doesn't mean putting yourself down or losing your identity.”
Leone went on to express hope that the Italian government would modify tax credits for film and television productions so as not to scare Hollywood away.
“The image we are presenting of this country is not trustworthy,” she said. “The uncertainty that characterizes us has made foreigners afraid to invest here. Now is not the time when we can afford to stand still and work.”
The Italian industry panel held in Sicily was also attended by journalist and author Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the new president of the Venice Biennale, the foundation that oversees the Venice Film Festival. Buttafuoco will be involved in deciding whether to renew the term of Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, who has one year left on his contract after the upcoming 2024 festival. Barbera, who has recently turned Venice into a strong launching pad for award-winning films such as “Poor Things,” is likely to remain at the helm of the festival after its next edition, according to multiple sources.
However, as with everything else related to tax credits and government influence over the Italian film industry, even Barbera's permanent position in Venice has not yet been agreed.
(The photo above is Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, and the person on the right is Sergio Castellitto, an actor who heads Italy's Centro Perimentare film school.)
