While in recent weeks and months dangerous “maneuvers” have continued in our country on numerous fronts, opened by Doc/it- Associazione Documentaristi Italiani [Association of Italian Documentary Makers] in the vast sea of institutional and political relations, in order to protect and even “battle for the life” of Italian documentaries, there are indisputable signs from various parts of the world of growing recognition for this genre.

In terms of artistic recognition, everything started in Locarno, with the memorable screening of “L’orchestra di Piazza Vittorio” by Agostino Ferrente (prod. Lucky Red and Pirata MC) on the last evening of the Festival.
It continued at the “Festa del Cinema” in Rome with the discovery of an original work entitled “La vera leggenda di Toni Vilar” by Giuseppe Gagliardi (prod. Tico Film, Rome and Avocado Film, Bologna) and the presentation (before its theater release, awaiting the long run-up to the Oscar nominations) of “La strada di Levi” by Davide Ferrario (prod. Rossofuoco, Turin), and then in Amsterdam at the end of November with the triumphant reception for “La vita come viaggio aziendale” by Paolo Muran (prod. Pierrot and Rosa, Bologna), a hilarious journey through the world of traveling salesmen by Ermanno Cavazzoni and Gianni Celati, culminating with the three Italian documentaries presented at the recent “Cinéma du Réel” Festival in Paris in the middle of March, to be followed by another 2 new documentaries for “Vision du Réel” in Nyon (Switzerland), in April. FrOM MIPDOC TO HOTDOCS/ ITALIAN DOCUMENTARIES ARE THE “SPECIAL GUEST” It would be easy to object that a few good documentaries is not enough to create a market and, in fact, this is not the really important news.

For the first time MIPDOC in Cannes, the first big trade event dedicated exclusively to documentaries held just before MIP-TV in April, has decided to make Italy its “special guest”, and Reed Midem have invited Doc/it to organize a presentation of five recent productions, illustrated by their respective producers (three from Rome: G. A. & A., Citrullo Int.nal, DocLab, and two from Turin: Stefilm and Zenit). For the very first time, at the next Hot Docs Festival in Toronto (the largest market in North America), also held in April, Italy will be the special guest at the “Toronto Documentary Forum”, attended by over 60 European and American TV companies.
A delegation of 25 producers will be accompanied to this important event by Doc/it, with the support of the ICE (Italian Institute for Foreign Trade): Italy sent around thirty projects of international appeal to the selection committee, two of which were accepted for the list of projects chosen for the public “pitch” (the others in the library). Over 20 companies have already booked a place at the end of June at “Sunny Side of the Doc”, to be held in La Rochelle, where they will be able to negotiate co-production, sales and partnership agreements.
Finally, FilmItalia will soon be launching an international campaign to promote Italian documentaries by sending a delegation of documentary-makers to the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival.

Cinema&Video   3/4-2007