The annual rendezvous of the Italian Film Commissions Training, held in Florence in the second half of January, confirmed the leading role played by Film Commissions in the Italian audiovisual industry.
In fact, while this year the event clarified – as the president of the Italian Film Commissions, Stefania Ippoliti, told Cinema & Video International – the need to make relations more systematic with the other protagonists of audiovisuals, through periodic meetings, the influence of the “guests” who represented the various categories at the highest levels, was very significant.
For an important player such as Rai there were, amongst others, the director of Rai Fiction, Tinni Andreatta with her deputy, Luca Milano, the president of Rai Cinema, Nicola Claudio, with Cecilia Valmarana and Carlo Brancaleoni, Giuseppe Giannotti, Head of Rai Storia for Rai Cultura and, for Rai Com, the CEO Luigi De Siervo.
Theatrical producers were represented by president Francesca Cima and the distributors by their president Andrea Occhipinti.
There was also Thalita Malagò, secretary general of the Associazione Editori e Sviluppatori di Videogiochi Italiani [Association of Italian Video Game Developers and Publishers].
Everyone pointed out how the various genres, from TV dramas to features to animation to documentaries to video games, are characterized by a deep-rooted regional production presence.
Andreatta, in particular, said that Rai dramas have now been filmed in all the regions of Italy and, for this reason, they represent the variety of our country very well. She also confirmed that the stories with the strongest identity are those which have the best chances on international markets.

But in order to maximize the regions you first have to respect them: another focal theme of the training event in Florence, according to Stefania Ippoliti, was the green set – a collection of good practices to be shared with productions that make it possible to minimize the environmental impact.
The “green project”, entrusted to the Association’s vice president, Nevina Satta, compared notes with the Edison working group and the mayor of Siena, Bruno Valentini, head of territory and environment for the Associazione dei Comuni Italiani [Association of Italian City Councils].

The Italian Film Commissions emerged even stronger from the training event in Florence, and their participation at the 65th Berlinale benefits the Italian audiovisual sector as a whole, since they are its most assiduous “messengers” at international events.