PIRANHAS by Claudio Giovannesi produced in 2019 won the Silver Bear for best screenplay at the 2019 Berlinale and depicts in a fast moving, well scripted and enacted story the coming of age of a group of youngsters emulating the life style and actions of Naples dominant crime groups.
The story may only appeal to an Italian audience. Acting performance by Toni Servillo as Berlusconi and Riccardo Scarmarcio as the fixer facilitating sex and drugs are persuasive but the narrative lacks rigor and does not drive the film. The demonstration of hedonistic excesses reminding of Fellini is parallel to Berlusconi’ss political decline and attempts to regain power. As expected the audience can enjoy the depiction of the importance of drugs and sex debaucheries in Berlusconi’s life and his entourage craving to benefit from his status by providing him with female companions. In part fictionalized the film was first released n two separate feature versions and subsequently combined for the UK market. LORO offers a satirical portrait of the fall of Silvio Berlusconi and his final service as Italian prime minister. LORO a 150 minute long 2018 co-production by Italy and France was directed by the Oscar-winning director of THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorentino. In 2018 Italian box office dropped to the lowest in a decade scoring just $633 million with a concomitant decline in ticket sales, whereas the box office in 2010 reached $837 million and scored higher tickets sales.Īs noted, several of the productions featured in the 2019 Open Roads program have apparently been placed into US theatrical distribution. For some observers this resulted from by Berlusconi’s control over the two principal production and distribution companies, Medusa which he owned and RAI reorienting them towards television style entertainment productions. Italy has been experiencing a steady decline of box office income for Italian films and cinema attendance. Most US distributors are reluctant to touch Italian films.Įxcept for countries such as France with a quota system enforcing the theatrical distribution of local productions, most other countries are impacted by foreign streaming services, specifically by Netflix. This master trend is accelerated by Netflix’ growing acquisition and production policy of foreign films. At any given point in time the number of Italian films on Netflix far exceeds whatever Italian productions are offered theatrically. Digital distribution of films has risen dramatically and 64% of all US households now use streaming services with Netflix reaching 75% of them. Distribution of Italian films for US theatrical release is problematic since the audience for foreign language films is getting smaller each year. During the same period the highest grossing Italian film in the US was MIA MADRE by Nanni Moretti with $300.000 in 2016 and in 2014 the Oscar winning THE GREAT BEAUTY by Paolo Sorrentino.
In the list of foreign exporters of films to the US Italy is not listed with a single film on that level. 30 foreign films out of 852 met the criteria but generated only 0.2% of the total box office revenues of films making over $5 million. In early 2018 Terry Huang researched the penetration of foreign films in the US theatrical market over the prior five years identifying films which made at least $5 million in North America and were produced outside the United States. Following its programming philosophy Open Roads offers a mixture of commercial and independent productions with works by established and first-time directors spanning the range of selected films from comedies to dramas. In past years about 2 to 3 films have been acquired here for each edition and this year Open Roads helped the release of four films, PIRANHAS, THEM, THE TRAITOR, and THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOHER.
It was followed by a separate homage from June 14 – 26 to Ermano Olmi also presented at the Lincoln Center by Film at Lincoln Center and the Instituto Luce Cinecitta covering 19 features he directed from 1961 to 2014.Īgainst the background of a shrinking US theatrical markets for foreign feature films, the smaller number of feature films produced in Italy compared to past years and declining Italian box office and ticket sales Open Roads plays an important role since it keeps against all odds the door open for theatrical and digital distribution of Italian films in the United Sates. Co-presented by New York’s Film at Lincoln Center (formerly branded as the Film Society of Lincoln Center) and the Rome based Instituto Luce Cinecitta from June 6-12, in its 19 th edition the festival presented 16 feature films produced in 20 and the 1962 classic first film by Bernardo Bertolucci LA COMMARE SECCA.
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