Apulia Film Commission Foundation.
The Apulia Region supporting audio-visual production.
Company profile
Following the regional law 6/2004, the Apulia Film Commission Foundation
(AFC) was established in July 2007 with the task of attracting
investment in the audio-visual sector offering free facilities to production
companies, writers and artists, providing grants (Film Fund), coordinating production activity (production, marketing, film business
practice, preservation of audiovisual heritage and more).
As a result, the AFC is not only a tool to support audiovisual production but can
be seen both as a structure capable of promoting tourism linked to so-called
cinetourism, as well as a Destination Management Organization (DMO).
The Foundation currently has 21 partners, guaranteeing an annual endowment
of approximately 2 million Euros.
The Apulia Film Commission supports production by providing solutions
to all logistical difficulties, offering the services of a location manager,
reducing or covering expenditure on hospitality and use of public areas,
liaising with local institutions, carrying out casting and supplying production
offices at a competitive cost.
Its dual objectives, therefore, are to boost the identity of local cinema and
audiovisual culture and create an audiovisual industry by developing each
aspect of production with the specific aim of increasing impact on the local
economy.
As a result, cinema became a new form of local development: from
factories to the soft economy.
Today, the AFC is a member of the European Network for regional
audiovisual funding (Cine-Regio), the International Association of Film
Commissions (AFCI), the Italian Film Commission Group (IFC), the EUFCN and
the Mediterranean Audiovisual Conference (COPEAM). It also participates
regularly at ministerial planning round-tables for policies in the sector.
Since the establishment of the AFC in 2007, a large number of film
projects have received funding or assistance including:
1. “Non ti voltare” – directed by Marina De Van, with Monica Bellucci,
Sophie Marceau.
2. “Il passato è una terra straniera” – directed by Daniele Vicari, with Elio
Germano, Chiara Caselli.
Fondazione Apulia Film Commission 1
Cineporto, Fiera del Levante, Lungomare Starita, 1 70132 Bari - Italy
Phone +39 080 9752900 - Fax +39 080 9147464 - P. I. 06631230726
3. “Focaccia Blues” – directed by Nico Cirasola, with Lino Banfi, Michele
Placido, Renzo Arbore, etc.
4. “Galantuomini” – directed by Edoardo Winspeare, with Fabrizio Gifuni,
Donatella Finocchiaro.
5. “Fine pena mai” – directed by Davide Barletti and Lorenzo Conte, with
Claudio Santamaria, Valentina Cervi.
6. “Pane e libertà” – The Life of Giuseppe Di Vittorio – directed by Alberto
Negrin, with Pierfrancesco Favino.
7. “Piede di Dio” – directed by Luigi Sardiello, with Emilio Solfrizzi, Filippo
Puccillo, etc.
8. “Bacha Ae Aseeno”, Bollywood;
9. “Maska”, Suresh Productions, South India;
10.
“Mayday 5&7” for National Geographic / Discovery Channel;
11.
“3 op Reis”, a programme on Apulia for Dutch Television’s third
channel;
12.
“Maria ihm schmeckt’s nicht” (Maria non gli piace!), distributed by
20th Century Fox and co-produced by Schmitze Katze and Orisa
Produzioni, based on the German best-seller written by Jan Weiler;
13.
“Paolo VI”, a TV series in 2 episodes shown on Rai 1, produced by
Lux Vide;
14.
“La doppia vita di Natalia Blum”, one episode filmed in Bari for the
TV series “Crimini 2” shown on Rai 2, directed by Anna Negri, with Emilio
Solfrizzi and Anita Caprioli;
15.
“Petruzzelli – Rinascita di un Teatro” directed by Maurizio Sciarra;
16.
“Nebbie e delitti 3”, episode set in Otranto, produced by Casanova
Entertainment, directed by Gianluca Tescari with Luca Barbareschi and
Anna Valle;
17.
“Honeymoon”, feature film filmed in Brindisi, directed by Goran
Paskaljevic, co- produced by SKA-NDAL production and NOVA FILM;
18.
“Il grande sogno” directed by Michele Placido;
19.
“Mare Piccolo” feature film directed by Alessandro di Robilant;
20.
“Mannaggia alla miseria” feature film directed by Lina Wertmuller;
21.
“L’uomo nero“ directed by Sergio Rubini, produced by Rai Cinema
and Bianca Film
22.
“Cado dalle nubi” directed by Gennaro Nunziante, produced by Tao
Due and Medusa;
23.
“Noi credevamo” directed by Mario Martone, produced by Palomar
and Studio Urania;
24.
“Mine vaganti” directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, produced by Fandango
and Rai Cinema;
25.
“Una musica silenziosa”, TV series for Rai 1 produced by Casanova.
In 2010, the FILM FUND, regional funding for audiovisual productions,
can offer an endowment of €1,000,000 in three instalments available to
productions which agree to film for at least two weeks in Apulia, to hire 30% of
cast and crew locally and to spend at least 150% of the grant awarded in the
area.
Fondazione Apulia Film Commission 2
Cineporto, Fiera del Levante, Lungomare Starita, 1 70132 Bari - Italy
Phone +39 080 9752900 - Fax +39 080 9147464 - P. I. 06631230726
An additional €600,000 is available to cover hospitality costs for productions,
covering living expenses incurred in Apulia (hotels, restaurants, transport and
so on).
The Apulia Film Commission provides a complete spectrum of audiovisual
services consisting of:
1. The Bari CINEPORTO at the Fiera del Levante trade fair, Pavilion
180.
1,200 m² of space dedicated entirely to cinema, visual arts and cinema
and artistic production.
A superb facility which hosts the film commission offices, production
offices, casting rooms, costume, make-up and hairdressing rooms,
props and scenery store rooms, a 95-seat multi-media room with
state-of-the-art technology and full HD digital projection, areas for
exhibitions and installation art and reception areas, areas for
professional training and meeting rooms.
2. The Lecce CINEPORTO at the Knos Factory, property of the
Province of Lecce.
Located in a 4,000 m² pavilion, one of Europe’s most extraordinary
cultural facilities, this vast area will be available for cinema production
and audiovisual companies offering casting rooms, costume, make-up
and hairdressing rooms, props and scenery store rooms and areas for
exhibitions and installation art.
3. Apulia Audiovisual Workshop – an international workshop touring
the 6 provinces of Apulia in which 5 masters of European cinema,
as well as story editors and a general organiser meet 20 participants
(50% non-Italians) who can take part for free.
The aim is to make international contacts, present the region to
future talents and to promote Apulia in Europe. April and May 2010.
4. Progetto Memoria – a project to discover the Apulian identity.
Places and people who have contributed to local history (e.g.
Castel del Monte, the Salento Tobacco Works, the city of Taranto, Aldo
Moro, etc.) as stories to be told by young Apulian writers and talents,
filming shorts or documentaries which depict our collective identity. The
films are entered at film festivals and form the background to a
shared historical Apulian identity.
The AFC has been entrusted with the task of co-ordinating activities within
the regional audiovisual system which has its base at the Regional
Multimedia Library in Via Zanardelli, Bari: 350 m² of space with a small
projection room and a collection of all the audiovisual artefacts which
were previously housed at the old regional multimedia library in Corso Venezia,
Bari.
Fondazione Apulia Film Commission 3
Cineporto, Fiera del Levante, Lungomare Starita, 1 70132 Bari - Italy
Phone +39 080 9752900 - Fax +39 080 9147464 - P. I. 06631230726
Furthermore, the Apulia Film Commission, supported by EU funding, has (or is
due to):
- set up and managed the first regional chain of quality art film cinemas.
The programme for twenty screens throughout the region is organised directly
by the Apulia Film Commission and is made up of at least 51% Italian and
European quality films with an annual contribution for each cinema;
- organised and oversaw the publication – in conjunction with the Regional
Tourist and Hotel Industry Board – of Effetto Puglia, the first cine-tourism
guide (published by Laterza). A history of films shot in Apulia (including ten
itineraries for cine-tourists), it is written by leading Apulian film journalists with
special contributions from figures from Italian cinema;
- organised and promoted, under the artistic direction of Felice Laudadio, the
first Bari International Film & TV Festival which enjoyed enormous success
among both public and critics. Planning is also under way for the Festival of
Documentary Cinema in the Salento area and a Festival of New Visions
scheduled for 2011.
- contributed to the promotion of various Apulian directors’ projects at film
festivals and fairs such as Venice (Pippo Mezzapesa, Pinuccio Lovero : Storia
di una morte di mezza estate), Rome (Galantuomini and Il Passato è una terra
straniera), Turin (Paolo de Falco, Leonardo, Radio Egnatia directed by Fluid
Video Crew), Los Angeles (Focaccia blues directed by Nico Cirasola,
Galantuomini directed by Edoardo Winspeare) and many others;
- organised the Co-Production Forum in Lecce in collaboration with the
European Cinema Festival, for European and Mediterranean producers;
- awarded grants to young and deserving Apulian residents (also those from
low-income families) to attend Master’s courses in Audiovisual Production at
the Luiss Business School (Rome) and the Master’s course for General Set
Organization at Turin Polytechnic.
Information can be found on our website www.apuliafilmcommission.it,
including an extensive
database on Apulian artists and audiovisual
technicians:
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an extraordinary average of approximately 8,000 daily subscribers to our
newsletter;
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an average of 800 daily new internet hits;
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approximately 30,000 visitors a month.
Fondazione Apulia Film Commission 4
Cineporto, Fiera del Levante, Lungomare Starita, 1 70132 Bari - Italy
Phone +39 080 9752900 - Fax +39 080 9147464 - P. I. 06631230726