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With a record 2018 and an extremely positive start to 2019, the Genova-Liguria Film Commission is preparing to celebrate its 20 years of activity with great optimism.
In 2018 the number of productions that chose to use the region as a set reached a total of 127 (+6.7% compared to the previous year) involving 480 days of production (+17.6%).
This translates into an increase in the economic and employment return for the region: to quote one piece of data, the overnight hotel stays directly generated by productions exceeded 4000 nights for the first time (4168 to be precise, an increase of 25.2% on 2017) and it is possible to estimate that there were no less than 9000 days of work for Ligurian technicians, actors and extras.
Certainly not extraneous to these results is the activation of an instrument of support and attraction for audiovisual productions that decide to invest in Liguria.
Activated at the end of 2017, the Open Call, financed using POR-FESR Funds, became operational in 2018 with the selection of over 30 audiovisual projects that are currently in various stages of production.
“These excellent results” observes Cristina Bolla, President of the Genova-Liguria Film Commission “are the best way to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the Ligurian Film Commission which has now consolidated its position of excellence on a national and international level”.
Beyond the numbers the attractiveness of the region is confirmed by the quality of many of the productions, despite the fact that 2018 was a difficult year for Liguria (collapse of the Morandi Bridge, the damage caused by the violent storm in the Tigullio on October 29th).
Big names in cinema and television have made an appearance in the locations of Liguria: from Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in the US movie “Murder Mystery”, to the cult actor Hal Yamanouchi (Wolverine’s antagonist) who featured in the Italian-Japanese coproduction “White Flowers”, to the four easygoing “Moschettieri del Re” (Pierfrancesco Favino, Valerio Mastandrea, Sergio Rubini and Rocco Papaleo) flanked by Margherita Buy and Valeria Solarino, directed by Giovanni Veronesi, to Serena Rossi playing Mia Martini in the biopic “Io sono Mia” directed by Riccardo Donna.
Traditionally Liguria is one of the top destinations on a national level for the production of commercials. 2018 was no exception.
22 commercials were shot in the region, many of which were aired nationally. These included Facile.it, Peroni, Allianz, Audi and BMW.
We should also remember the successful video clips such as those by Ex Otago, Rovazzi and Jack La Furia. And some less well known but high quality projects like the documentaries “Citizen Rose”, the protagonist of which is the person who started the #MeToo Rose McGowan movement and “Davanti a me il Sud”, by the Oscar winning German director Pepe Danquart.
There is also a strong presence of international productions in Liguria: there were 32 in 2018, equal to 25.2% of the total with the presence of 18 different countries.
The choice of locations is also very varied.
In addition to Genova, 32 Ligurian municipalities hosted theatrical and television productions confirming that the whole of Liguria has truly become a big set between the Apennines and the sea.
2019 opened with a continuation of the previous year and news of the return in grand style of television drama to the region.
Between March and April “Petra”, the big Cattleya production for Sky based on the bestsellers by the Spanish author Alicia Jimenez-Bartlett, starring Paola Cortellesi, was filmed in Liguria.
Between May and June the filming of another Cattleya TV series was announced.
This is “Masantonio”, a detective drama starring Alessandro Preziosi and Bebo Storti.
For the end of the year/beginning of 2020, the production of another important Italian television project in Liguria is planned.
And the latest initiative by the Genova-Liguria Film Commission is actually dedicated to TV drama: the Digital Fiction Festival will be held in the historic Fortress of Castelfranco in Finale Ligure from August 1st to 4th 2019.
“An international festival” Cristina Bolla, who devised the event, assures us “which will bring the best dramas from all over the world to Liguria, with a focus on Italian drama: the “historic” and pioneering kind of the ‘60s and that of today.
There will also be space for the projects supported by the Regional Open Call for Audiovisuals
