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The value of international investment in film and TV co-productions was €103m for the 2020-2022 period,

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

Research shows a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers.

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

Italy’s Indiana Production – which has just become part of pan-European studio Vuelta Group – is staying true to its roots with production kicking off this month on gender swap movie “Romeo is Juliet,” directed by quality comedy specialist Giovanni Veronesi, just as the company expands its horizons.

This latest title in Indiana’s slate stars A-lister Sergio Castellitto and Pilar Fogliati (“Romantiche”) who plays an actress named Vittoria who after being brutally rejected by a cynical stage director when she auditions to play Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” decides to reinvent herself as a man to audition for Romeo and gets the part. The film’s lead actors and director are pictured above.

“Romeo is Juliet” is being produced by Indiana, co-produced by Capri Entertainment, and will be distributed in Italian theatres by Vision Distribution. The movie will start production in September.

Founded in 2005, Indiana over the ensuing...

Time After Time: Cavani Commits Time Crimes in Overwrought Farce

What does time mean when we’re all out of it? Thus is the quagmire at the heart of The Order of Time, the first theatrical narrative feature from provocative Italian auteur Liliana Cavani in over two decades. Inspired by (rather than adapted from) Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli’s 2017 publication of the same name, which explicates notions regarding the flow of time through various opposing theories, from Aristotle and Newton, to Einstein, suggesting there is no one singular ‘now,’ but rather a multitude, Cavani approaches these elements through situational drama.

Rovelli, who co-wrote the script with Cavani and Paolo Costella, now exists in the fumes of a hypothetical predicament, his explorations of space-time, the theory of relativity, and thermodynamics instead forming the basis for some leaden passages of dialogue between a group of friends uniting for an annual birthday celebration...

In an alternate universe, Zendaya would be breaking the Internet with her red carpet fashion as she promoted Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” the movie that was supposed to open the 80th annual Venice Film Festival.

But the SAG-AFTRA strike made it impossible for the tennis movie, starring one of the world’s buzziest movie stars, to come to the Lido.

So instead, Venice kicked off with World War II drama “Comandante” by young Italian auteur Edoardo De Angelis. The movie, mostly set on a submarine, landed a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.

Indeed, the lack of star power was strongly felt at Venice opening night. The size of the crowds that lined up outside the Sala Grande Theatre was modest, and the biggest cheers went to Damien Chazelle, who is presiding over the Venice jury. Jane Campion,...

Even without major stars or Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” to buoy it, the opening night of the Venice Film Festival’s 80th edition was high on nostalgia for cinema’s past and excitement for the eight days of movies ahead.

A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.

First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...

Updated with more details: The 80th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off Wednesday evening with the world premiere screening of Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama Comandante. Running in competition, the film took over the slot vacated by Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, which backed out of the spot amid the actors strike.

Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.

Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.

Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...

Even in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Valerie June stands out: star-studded sunglasses, a sparkly silver blouse and a plume of thick dreadlocks that sprout in all directions. At her favorite neighborhood bistro, she attracts the attention of a bald customer who approaches her table to hand her his business card. “Love your hair,” he says flirtatiously. “Maybe you could give me some.” “I might!” June replies with a laugh.

June, 35, smiles again when asked about another compliment she received recently. In an interview posted on his website, Bob Dylan said he’d been listening to June,...