Let’s start with the good news. The annual report on Italian cinema drawn up by ANICA and MiBACT confirms the success of the Tax credits and Film Commissions, both of which, for reasons now well-known, have turned out to be, in their respective roles, the only new features to revitalize the sector in the last 10 years.
But evidently they are not enough. The report showed that the growth in the number of films produced in the last year has not led to a proportional overall increase in investment (the average film budget has further dropped to 1.4 million Euros, less than half the French average, which is 3.9 million Euros).
This phenomenon, combined with the decrease in co-productions with other countries, already reduced to a minimum, gives professionals the image of a “fragile industry”. What emerges is an Italian movie industry that has retreated into itself, counterpointed by peaks of art-house products (see the performance at the Cannes Film Festival of three of our top filmmakers in competition and another three in the fringe sections).
The Universal Exposition, held this year in Milan, offers an important opportunity to free ourselves from a certain provincialism, to get past that self-referential culture that also tends to encumber Italian initiatives abroad .
Because, despite the “Milan Pride” type launch, the themes of Expo 2015 are of a planetary nature.
These were summarized by Ermanno Olmi when he illustrated the reasons for the short he made for the event. Italian cinemagoers will soon be able to view his “Il pianeta che ci ospita – The planet that hosts us”, as Ermanno Olmi has “donated” it to theaters.
«The aim of this universal event», the Maestro has stated, «is, first and foremost, the commitment of richer peoples to guarantee food, water and dignity to every human being, according to a principle of justice that regulates the way the various peoples live on the Earth together. In the same way, on a par with food, peoples who have won the privilege of freedom, through the sacrifice of their martyrs, should also be an example of democracy and civil cohabitation».
