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THE PôLE IMAGE MAGELIS
Cartoon Italia, the National Association of Animation Producers, has launched a proposal to the Film Commissions: to work together to create at least 3 Image Centers in Italy.
The proposal – put forward during a meeting in Rome organized by MIA – is part of a strategic plan for animation that, modeling itself on the Pôle Image Magelis of Angoulême in France, aims to also build production districts in Italy that complement each other and valorize the history and the vocation of each region.
“The Pôle Image Magelis is certainly the model for our project” Alfio Bastiancich, vice president of Cartoon Italia tells Cinema & Video International “but with a substantial difference: in Angoulême the local institutions had to earn the trust of businesses by creating incentivizing policies. In our case the paradigm is reversed: we are the ones making the proposition and suggesting we do it together. The originality lies in the fact that we are not proposing to film there for 15 days but establishing businesses that can have a permanent base in the region creating a production network that mainly employs young people thus implying a connection with training schools, universities and academies”.
The characteristics required are: suitable spaces and communication networks, the existence of a system of production incentives.
But who will be able to catch the ball launched by Cartoon Italia?
The association of Italian Film Commissions promptly took up the challenge: “We share the idea of creating infrastructures for animation, identifying the sites chosen, following the vocation and creativity of the place and we will do all we can to make it happen”, the president Stefania Ippoliti assures us and who, as head of the Toscana Film Commission, announces to Cinema & Video International that “in February 2019 an animation atelier will be opened in Prato, in the Manifatture Digitali Cinema, to be inaugurated by Enzo D’Alò who will be producing his next animation feature here with the working title of “A Greyhound of a Girl”, based on the novel by Roddy Doyle. Starting with this production center” she concludes “we will work hard to network the expertise and the best talents in animation of which there are many in Tuscany, also thanks to the existence and extraordinary success of Lucca Comics”.
Piedmont is certainly in pole position due to its particularly extensive tradition in the sector as a result of the work started in the 1980s: with its numerous companies, the Politecnico and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, it is the home of the two major sector associations (Cartoon Italia and Asifa Italia) and, for a couple of years, it has hosted the Cartoons on the Bay event.
It appears that Sardinia wishes to apply a cross-media approach to animation with its centers of excellence in animated graphics and digital communication. And one of the Cartoon Masters organized by the Cartoon association of Brussels will actually be held in Sardinia, in Cagliari, in May 2019.
The first European masters seminar of this genre hosted in Italy will consist of a series of meetings between members of the trade as well as scouting activities, preparing the way for the regular seminars with sector professionals about the latest digital innovations.
The Marche region has earned itself an excellent position and not just because Rainbow is in Loreto.
The project is separate from Iginio Straffi’s company, the multinational dimension of which makes its identification with the region difficult.
The Marche’s identifying code is of an authorial nature: the creative energy that has collected around the historic Scuola del Libro d’arte [Art Book School] of Urbino that has produced successful talents, from Simone Massi to Roberto Catani.
This is confirmed by Anna Olivucci, head of the Marche Film Commission – Fondazione Marche Cultura, who tells Cinema & Video International: “We have always been convinced of the existence of an “Animarche”, i.e. a regional vocation for animation, where the word anima or “soul” acquires an added value. The Cartoon Italia proposal is very interesting for us and undoubtedly represents a direction to be followed. It would be great if these creative resources were structured in a regular animation district”.