New Federation to Boost Italian Film Sales
TORONTO – It’s no surprise that the man who is developing a high-budget Trump biopic, one that is “kinder” and “more balanced” than The Apprentice (2024), is pushing to further commodify Italian cinema. Producer Andrea Iervolino has just announced the creation of a new federation named MIFE, for “Made in Italy Film Export”. The mission of the new federation is to have Italian films distributed worldwide with the same success as some of its major exports.
“Italian cinema has extraordinary talent, history, and creativity,” says Iervolino. “However, for too long it has not been treated as a strategic export industry. MIFE was created to fill this gap. Our goal is to bring Italian cinema to the world with the same strength with which Italy exports fashion, automobiles, and food”.
According to Iervolino, 50 Producers have already signed on as members in addition to several production companies including Kalicon, which is co-owned by Warner Bros. Spain and Italy President Stefano Torrisi. Interestingly, MIFE is now affiliated with Confimpreseitalia, a private, non-profit association that represents the interests of private companies.
“We will work closely with Confimpreseitalia and public institutions to turn cinema into a genuine economic and employment engine, capable of generating value, continuity, and international reputation for Italy”, says Iervolino.
Confimpreseitalia provides a range of services to help companies grow through strategic market research, lobbying & advocacy and expert consultancy. But the approach to boosting growth in the food sector, for instance, doesn’t uniformly apply to showbusiness. Film market research for example, is often failed due to ever-shifting trends and/or the nuanced nature of art.
Film history is filled with examples of highly successful movies that screened poorly or were unexpected hits. And the reverse. This reality makes the proposed streamlining a bigger challenge under the stewardship of associations like Confimpreseitalia.
MIFE’s Secretary General Federico Bettoni added that they will “work closely with Confimpreseitalia and public institutions to turn cinema into a genuine economic and employment engine, capable of generating value”.
But the closest US equivalents the Italian association would be the National Retail Federation, the International Franchise Association and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. And none of the five major American film studios partner with them. The major Hollywood Studios all have their own in-house business development teams and lobby personnel.
They also have their own market research departments which test concepts and script outlines long before a dollar is invested. The American movie machine isn’t perfect, but it’s the industry leader. And the major difference between Italy and the U.S. is the presence of a Studio System.
Italy’s national cinema is largely comprised of independent films which rely on government aid and international co-pro agreements. And the only major Studio in Italy, Cinecittà, is state owned. If Iervolino wants to commodify or internationalize Italian Cinema, he’d do well to focus more on how films are made in Italy, before turning his attention to how they’re marketed and sold.
Image of Andrea Iervolino courtesy of Daniele Venturelli
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
