Italian Screens initiative will arrive in India in October

Italian Screens, the showcase that presents the best of Italian cinema abroad, will take place from 12 to 15 October in India. The spotlight will be on six films nominated for the David di Donatello, an award instituted by the Academy of Italian Cinema. The showcase will be inaugurated on 12 October in New Delhi by the special screening of "Ennio" by Giuseppe Tornatore, about the legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.

All screenings will take place simultaneously, until 15 October, at PVR cinemas in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and at the historic New Empire cinema in Kolkata, in the presence of the institutions and some of the most famous names in Indian cinema. The films presented, in Italian with English subtitles, are "Il Buco" by Michelangelo Frammartino, "Sulla giostra" by Giorgia Cecere, "Qui rido io" by Mario Martone, "L' Arminuta" by Giuseppe Bonito and "Aria ferma" by Leonardo di Costanzo.

The initiative is part of a wider project of deepening cultural relations between Italy and India, organised by Cinecittà for the DGCA of the MiC in order to ensure a rapprochement with Bollywood and to stimulate meeting opportunities between producers, distributors and creatives of both countries.

Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, Director General for the Promotion of the Country System (MAECI) said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always considered the strategic value of audiovisuals as one of the best ways to portray Made in Italy abroad and promote Italian excellence. We have therefore decided to enhance Italian Screens in India as a celebration of the extraordinary 'Nation branding be IT' campaign, with special promotional events relating to screenings in the four Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. The ‘be IT’ campaign, launched in November last year, promotes with digital and social tools a new way of representing Italian excellence and Made in Italy, and this occasion with Cinecittà and our diplomatic consular network is an important showcase of visibility towards the Indian public”.

“It is a project strongly desired by the DGCA of the MiC and entrusted to Cinecittà, which finally makes the sometimes abused concept of 'working as a system' effective and the oft-quoted 'cultural diplomacy' a reality. In the framework of the support activities for the internationalisation of the Italian audiovisual industry, the aim of this action is to implement the collaboration between the capillary diplomatic and consular network, the prestige of the Academy of Italian Cinema - David di Donatello Awards, and the excellences of the national audiovisual industry, to promote our cinema, at gala occasions created ad hoc in some of the most important and iconic cities in the world. At the same time, we will hold 'business-oriented' events during which we will present all the benefits that Italy offers to foreign operators to co-produce, shoot with us, or distribute our films in cinemas abroad, thereby combining cultural promotion with a more commercial one. The project, which takes off in numerous locations, will see a tenfold increase in appointments on all continents over the next two years”, explains Roberto Stabile, Head of Special Projects of the DGCA of the MiC at Cinecittà

“The Academy of Italian Cinema - David di Donatello Awards, is honoured to be a partner of the Italian Screens initiative, which emphasises and enhances the work of research, support and selection of the best Italian cinema composed throughout the year and culminating in the night of the David Awards. It is crucial today to support our talents and to spread our film culture and its cultural specificity abroad. Italian Screens appears to best interpret one of the Academy's important missions: the education of new audiences, in the name of the widest inclusion”, says President and Artistic Director Piera Detassis.