Reg. Trib. Milano n. 418 del 02.07.2007 - Direttore responsabile: Elisabetta Brunella

International Edition No. 233 - year 19 - 22 November 2024

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Dear Readers,

Elisabetta Brunella

this issue offers you first of all an overview of the upcoming releases of Italian films and co-productions with Italy on the screens of various European countries.

Among them appear two films "signed by women": on the one hand the box office hit “C’è ancora domani”/”There’s still tomorrow”, by Paola Cortellesi, which, after the success that began "at home" at the end of 2023, continues to conquer the international markets, and, on the other, the new entry "Vermiglio", by Maura Delpero, the winner of the Silver Lion at the last Venice Film Festival.

A new look at his Naples, is offered by Paolo Sorrentino with "Parthenope", in competition at Cannes, while "Maria" and "Marcello mio" bring to the fore two figures - that of Maria Callas and Marcello Mastroianni - who have unforgettably marked the cultural scne and the world of entertainment of the twentieth century.

Finally, our special correspondent takes us this time to the United States, to visit, in the suburbs of Durham, NC, one of the most significant sites of the AMC chain.

As always, we wish you an interesting reading,

Elisabetta Brunella
Secretary General of MEDIA Salles

 

 

ITALIAN FILMS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

The call of the Bel Paese
by Elisabetta Brunella

Which Italian films and co- productions will be hitting the big screen abroad in the next months?

Among the upcoming releases, one title stands out as the flagship of Italian cinema’s global success in 2024: the dramedy “C’è ancora domani”/”There’s still tomorrow”, Paola Cortellesi’s directorial debut. Her film, already sold in over 120 markets, will expand to two more countries at the end of November – Denmark and Lithuania - adding to the list of European territories that have embraced Delia’s story and her journey of rebellion.

It will also debut “on the other side of the world”. On November 28, theatres in New Zealand will premiere the film, which has already won the 2024 Sydney Film Festival and has been touring major Australian cities since late October. Distributed by Limelight, the film will have a wide distribution in independent theatres as well as in prominent chains such as Dendy, Event, and, of course, Palace Cinemas, the company founded by Antonio Zeccola, the son of a theatre owner from Muro Lucano, who has become “the ambassador” of Italian cinema in Australia.

In December, distributor Future Films will bring “C’è ancora domani” to Finland and Norway, where Cortellesi’s directorial debut will be released on Christmas Day.

But its journey won’t end in 2024; the new year will see its arrival in Hungary, the United States, Canada, and Serbia.

Before 2025 arrives, however, there will be additional opportunities for international audiences, especially European, to discover Italian films and co-productions, starting with “Maria”, which will premiere in Romania on December 20, thanks to Bad Unicorn, the company that has distributed “Io Capitano”.

On the same day, Triart will release “Parthenope” by Paolo Sorrentino in Swedish theatres, while the film will debut in Spain and Denmark on Christmas Day and in Russia on December 26.

This latest journey by the Neapolitan director through his hometown, two years after “È stata la mano di Dio”/”The hand of God”, will reach dozens of countries worldwide in 2025, including Germany, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania.

Around the same time, “Maria”, the co-production that recounts the final days of Maria Callas, masterfully portrayed by Angelina Jolie, will reach key European markets, including France, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. It is also set to debut in the Americas, with a release in Brazil planned for February.

The start of the new year will see the international release of “Vermiglio”, the film that won the Silver Lion in Venice. Maura Del Pero’s second film is already scheduled for release in Spain, France, Norway, and Russia and will reach several other territories. It will offer audiences a powerful, moving story set in an Italian village during the final year of World War II.

Distributors who have acquired theatrical rights for the film include multi-territory companies like Moving Turtle, which operates in North Africa, particularly in Tunisia and Egypt, and the Middle East, including Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.

Similarly, “Parthenope” has secured distribution in Latin America through Pasatiempo Pictures, which holds rights across numerous markets, from Mexico to Argentina, including major territories like Colombia and Brazil.

Among the factors facilitating the international reach of Italian films, institutional support has proven particularly significant, as seen in the case of “C’è ancora domani”. Many screenings, often premieres, have been organized with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute or the Italian Embassy, on the occasion of International Women’s Day or as part of Italian film festivals and screenings. Examples include screenings in Europe (Paris and Brussels), Africa (Rabat and Maputo), and the Americas (Brasilia, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá), where, aside from the film’s artistic value, the women empowerment topic has been highlighted.

A special event worth noting took place at the Kino Armata in Prishtina, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Kosovo and the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana. The invitation for the screening emphasized the neorealistic style of Cortellesi’s black-and-white “dramedy.” After all, it’s well-known that audiences worldwide enjoy recognizing the timeless heritage of classic Italian cinema masters in contemporary films from the Bel Paese.

This article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of Cinema & Video Int'l, the MEDIA Salles media partner.


Upcoming Italian movie releases

 
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT...

The comfort of the seats is among the main requirements of the American spectator
by Elisabetta Galeffi

In Southpoint you will find maps and charts everywhere to cross the streets and squares with the monuments, without getting lost.
It seems like a city, but in its very clean streets, and probably safer than those of real cities, no one sleeps except, perhaps, a few homeless people.

But Southpoint is not a city, it is rather an enormous "commercial village", opened in 2002, when the city of Durham (North Carolina) was in the hands of dangerous gangs and the commercial activities of the center had progressively disappeared.
The mall was therefore built for the people who, from the outskirts of Durham and nearby Chapel Hill, poured to live in these parts, in agglomerations made of more or less beautiful houses, more or less large, but far from everything, in the middle of the large woods of the region.

The meeting places, the cinema and restaurants, the bookstores and cafes, as well as many shops and supermarkets, are in Southpoint, where you can get to and park easily and where there is also a free bus, very frequent and punctual, which runs along the various residential areas for several miles.
More and more people, especially students - Durham and Chapel Hill are two university towns - given the rising prices in the United States, no longer buy cars, also because they are too expensive to maintain.

They tell me that Southpoint is the only mall that has withstood the financial crisis of 2008 and then the economic downturn - even worse - that followed the pandemic. It stands in the middle of a cemetery of old, smaller malls, which not only offered fewer stores and fewer leisure opportunity but were also difficult to reach.

In the center of the gigantic mall stands one of the largest cinemas in the United States, AMC Southpoint 17, a multiplex open every day from morning until late at night. There are 17 stadium seating auditoriums, all quite spacious, with an average of about 150 seats.
Technology and comfort are two areas on which AMC focuses its attention in particular, as can be expected from the largest circuit in the world, active since 1920, which boasts 900 sites and about 10,000 screens.

Let's get to the projection: Southpoint 17 offers a variety of high-end options that include 3D shows with RealD technology, based on passive glasses, particularly comfortable to wear, an IMAX laser screen, as well as Dolby Atmos certified screens.

In terms of comfort, the large recliners stand out, which - according to the opinions of viewers available on the internet – have become a discriminating factor in choosing a cinema. They are equipped with a series of accessory functions, ranging from a footrest to a back massage, to heating.
Naturally, each seat is equipped with a small rotating table suitable not only for placing enormous glasses of any drink you might want to accompany gigantic buckets of popcorn, but also a vast selection of snacks.

The offer of food and drinks is in fact particularly wide (in the enormous lobby of Southpoint 17 there are as many as four points of sale) but also very diversified, given that, with the introduction of the MacGuffins Bar - a formula covered by a patent - AMC has introduced alcoholic beverages in its US sites for those who are at least 21 and show an ID card, bringing a real innovation in the habits of Americans, who for decades had not been able to consume alcohol at the cinema.

Now they can choose their favorite drink among beers, wines and cocktails, even with the Italian touch of the “Disaronno Amaretto”. They are all shown in a very long list that also indicates, for each drink, the caloric intake.
And for those who can't go to the multiplex, but don't want to give up the “Perfectly Pop-corn” – another AMC patent – don't worry: you can place an order with your cell phone and “Uber eats” will deliver the cinema delicacies to your home.

The pricing policy is very complex.
For example, discounts are available for spectators over the age of sixty or for children between the ages of two and twelve, as well as for students. Regulars are offered a form of monthly subscription that also entitles them to discounts on concessions. In addition, all shows scheduled before 4 pm benefit from a 25% reduction. The type of screening and the technical quality of the theatre also affect the price, which can go from a base of around 10 dollars to 18, if it is an evening screening in 3D.

But be careful, you must then add a commission for online purchases as well as taxes since, unlike what happens in Europe, the prices communicated to the public do not include them (and they vary depending on the State). For the indispensable popcorn, you then need to calculate, for a rich "combo" made up of a generous bucket and two large drinks, which can also be ordered from your cell phone, another 25 dollars or so.

According to the manager who kindly took us on a tour of the rooms of AMC Southpoint 17, explaining how it works, here cinema-going knows no crisis. School groups arrive in the morning, groups of ladies towards midday during the week, while on the weekend the multiplex is crowded with younger spectators.
The fact that the cinema-goers of AMC Southpoint 17 are very diversified is also demonstrated by the presence of films dubbed or subtitled in Spanish and also in Telugu, the third most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent.

In short, the public that demands the unrivaled quality of the big screen cannot give up the movie theatre, even if we all know that alternative channels have inevitably spread especially with the pandemic.
Furthermore - it may be cheap psychology - but every now and then even in the States people want a bit of social life and the cinema is always a nice meeting place, like a city that, however fake, allows you to walk through streets and squares so lively that they seem real.

AMC

  • Largest circuit in the world.
  • Active since 1920.
  • 900 sites and approximately 10,000 screens worldwide, located in various cinema chains among which Odeon Cinemas, which controls UCI Cinemas.
  • 558 sites and 7,325 screens in the US, where the AMC market share amounts to almost 25%.
  • Since 2023 AMC has been active in distribution too.
  • In 2024, it has just announced the AMC Go Plan, an investment plan that plans to spend up to 1.5 billion over the next 4-7 years to renovate its sites in the US and EU.


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Edito da: MEDIA Salles - Reg. Trib.
Milano n. 418 dello 02/07/2007
 
Direttore responsabile:
Elisabetta Brunella
 
Redazione:
Vittoria Marcotulli
 
Coordinamento redazionale:
Silvia Mancini
 
 
Raccolta dati ed elaborazioni statistiche: Paola Bensi, Silvia Mancini