Italian Cinema Worldwide

ITALIAN CINEMA WORLDWIDE
MEDIA Salles at KINO EXPO 2005
(Moscow, 13-16 September 2005)

14 September 2005

PRESS RELEASE

In a country of over 140 million inhabitants, with a steadily growing cinema market (approximately 215 million dollars box office in 2004, i.e. more than twice as much as 2002) and a considerable increase in the overall number of cinemas (4 multiplexes for a total of 41 screens were built in 2004 alone between Moscow and St. Petersburg and new complexes are foreseen in other parts of the country), Russia is one of the most interesting markets on the international cinema scene.

This is why MEDIA Salles wished to be present with Italian Cinema Worldwide – the new initiative for promoting Italian films – at Kino Expo, the most important event devoted to cinema exhibitors in Russia and neighbouring countries.

In particular, Friday 16 September, from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm, Conference Hall, 4th floor, at the Moscow Expocentre Exhibition Complex, MEDIA Salles will present

- The screening of the international success I’m Not Scared by Gabriele Salvatores;
- A selection of trailers of the most recent Italian productions:
Persona Non Grata, by Krzysztof Zanussi
Sacred Heart (Cuore Sacro), by Ferzan Ozpetek
The Tiger and The Snow (La Tigre e La Neve), by Roberto Benigni
The Days of Abandonment (I Giorni dell’Abbandono), by Roberto Faenza

The new issue (n. 4/2005) of the Newsletter “European Cinema Journal”, including a special supplement entirely in Russian, devoted to Italian cinema at Kino Expo 2005, will be presented and circulated on this occasion.

Persona Non Grata (Poland-Italy-Russia, 2005)
Warmly received by the critics at this year’s Venice Film Festival, this film directed by Krzysztof Zanussi, already winner of a Golden Lion in 1984 with The Year of The Quiet Sun – can also claim an appearance on its cast by the Russian director and producer Nikita Mikhalkov, who on Friday 16, during the Kino Expo Awards Ceremony, will collect the “Person of the Year in Cinema Business” award.
A plot perfectly balanced between a spy story and reflections on the positive and negative values of a society transformed by the upheavals of History.

I’m Not Scared (Italy-Spain-UK, 2003)
Amongst Italy’s greatest successes in 2003, this film by Gabriele Salvatores has an involving plot with two very young and extremely able actors and an extraordinary photography by Italo Petriccione, who in 2004 won the David award for Best Director of Photography. Since its release, the film was distributed in more than 25 countries worldwide.

The coming appointments of “Italian Cinema Worldwide”:

MEDIA Salles, a project operating within the framework of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, with the support of the Italian Government, fosters theatrical distribution of European audiovisual products, both by high profile campaigns involving Europe's cinema exhibitors and by initiatives to raise the visibility of European productions with industry players and potential audiences, creating specialized information channels on a global scale. Thus the current initiatives from MEDIA Salles dovetail in a program with a triple focus - training, promotion and information - and maximum combined effect.
Italian Cinema Worldwide is a MEDIA Salles’ initiative, held thanks to the support of the Italian Government.

	An initiative of the EU MEDIA Programme with the support of the Italian Government Since 1992 MEDIA Salles has been promoting the European cinema and its circulation at theatrical level
	Italian Cinema Worldwide