There are six Italian films in the main competition. There had not been this many since 1982. It happened because something changed in the Italian movie industry, and the change was mostly driven by investments. We were used of thinking of Italian production as needing a budget around €8-9m. This year, we are looking at Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn – €29m, De Angelis’ Comandante – €17m, Matteo Garrone’s Me Captain – €8-9m despite using non-professional actors, Giorgio Diritti’s Lubo – €12m if I’m not mistaken.
More robust productions, obviously, which is a very welcome development. In our country, there are many small productions with very limited means who cannot compete on international markets bar a few exceptions. Growing budgets and raising investments means more resources and more expression, more titles who stand a chance internationally, more competitiveness.
