ALTO ADIGE/PPOTAGONIST AT THE BERLINALE
While Alto Adige was present in Berlin last year in competition with the German “Das Finstere Tal”, this year it returns to the red carpet of the Berlinale with two movies: “Sworn Virgin”, in competition, the debut work by Laura Bispuri filmed in Merano and Bolzano and supported by the BLS to the tune of 190,000 Euros (a production by Vivo Film and Colorado Film Production with Rai Cinema, Bord Cadre films, Match Factory Productions and Era Film), and the world premiere of “Elser – Er hätte die Welt verändert” (international title “13 Minutes”) by Oliver Hirschbiegel.
This movie, produced by Germany’s Lucky Bird Pictures, in co-production with Delphi Medien and Philipp Filmproduction, was filmed in a large fruit warehouse in Terlano, in the Caserma Francesco Rossi barracks of Merano and inside and outside the Ristorante Bersaglio also in Merano. The picture tells the story of Georg Elser, a humble carpenter from Königsbronn who, on November 8th 1939, attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb attack in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, missing his target by just 13 minutes. “It gives us great satisfaction that two projects financed by our Film Commission and partly made in Alto Adige have been selected for the official competition of such an important festival” says Christiana Wertz, head of the Film Commission.

Amongst the projects currently being filmed in the region, we should mention “The Way of the Eagle”, by Gerardo Olivares which, after some filming last summer, returned in February to shoot in the mountains of Alto Adige. The movie, which is produced by the Austrian Terra Mater Factual Studios and received 600,000.00 Euros from the BLS, stars Jean Reno, the young Manuel Comacho and Tobias Moretti, who was also in “Das finstere Tal” (which also received support from the BLS) and for which, in 2014, he was awarded the prize for Best Supporting Actor at the German cinema’s Oscars.

Tobias Moretti is also the protagonist of “Luis Trenker – Der schmale Grat der Wahrheit”, another summer set which returned to film in Alto Adige in January: a TV movie by Wolfgang Murnberge, it received 700,000.00 Euros from the BLS and is produced by Germany’s Roxy Film together with Austria’s EPO Film.
Set in the 1920s, it tells the story of the encounter between the mountaineer and director Luis Trenker and the young and ambitious Leni Riefenstahl. At the end of January, Renon also welcomed “Fräulein”, the debut work by Caterina Carone, winner of the first edition of RACCONTI, produced by Carlo Cresto Dina’s Tempesta. Christian De Sica and Lucia Mascino play a mysterious tourist and a hotel owner who meet during a solar storm. The project received funding of 480,000.00 Euros from the BLS and plans to involve many local professionals.

Some other important sets expected soon include “The correspondence” by Giuseppe Tornatore, and “Bianco” by Daniele Vicari, a Mir Cinematografica/ Aeternam Films Italian-French co-production, with Elio Germano and Luca Argentero. The 5 million Euro fund for television and theatrical productions and pre-productions is confirmed for 2015 when the BLS hopes to exceed the results obtained in 2014: 24 projects funded generat- ing 33 sets and more than 600 days of filming in the region.

TRENTINO/BEAUTY IS A HABIT
There are two international sets working in Trentino in the month of February: on the 2nd shooting started on “Il Traduttore” by Massimo Natale, produced by Kalitera Production, Inthelfilm and Wider Films (which will distribute the movie), in co-production with the Polish Agresywna Banda. The movie, which has received support from the Mibact (Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities) and is being made in collaboration with Rai Cinema, is a love story between an Italian widow (Claudia Gerini) and a Romanian boy (Kamil Kula) who works in Italy as a translator.

On February 23rd Mirko Pincelli will start shooting “The Habit of Beauty”, a co-production between Italy’s Orisa and Britain’s The Habit of Beauty, starring Francesca Neri, Vincenzo Amato, Remo Girone, Noel Clarke, Kierston Wareing and Nico Mirallegro. It is a dramatic film set in London and the mountains of Trentino about a husband and wife coping with the sudden death of their only child.

In 2015 the projects funded with the last tranche of the Trentino Film Commission’s 2014 Fund will also be filming in Trentino. These include “The Correspondence”, the new movie by Giuseppe Tornatore, produced by Paco Cinematografica, which also received support from the BLS- Alto Adige Film Fund & Commission and the Film Commission Torino Piemonte, ”Mi chiedo quando ti mancherò” by Francesco Fei, a co- production between Italy (Mare Mosso and Invisible Film), Hungary (Laokoon Film Arts) and Croatia (Sekvenca Production), the horror thriller “Ghost Mountaineer” by Urmas E. Liiv, a co-production with Trentino’s Decima Rosa and the Estonian Kopli Kinokompanii OÜ , with the support of the Estonian Film Institut, the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Estonian TV3. There are also some documentaries: “Oltre il confine-La storia di Ettore Castiglioni” directed by Andrea Azzetti and Federico Massa, produced by GiUMa Produzioni of Trento, “Animali nella Grande Guerra”, by Folco Quilici, produced by Red Film, and “Un libro in tasca” by Claudio Chianura, produced by HAZE and co-produced by KR Movie of Trento.

The next deadline for requesting support from the Trentino Film Commission Film Fund is February 20th 2015.

APULIA/VALENTINO IN CASTELLANETA
Bari will be the protagonist, until the end of February, of two feature movies: “Se ti diranno di me”, a TV movie by Marco Tullio Giordana (Bibi film), which will also be filmed in Gravina, in Apulia, until February 28th, and “La ragazza dei miei sogni” by Saverio Di Biagio (Draka), which also includes, amongst its locations, Molfetta and Giovinazzo. In December, Castellaneta, in the province of Taranto, provided the set for “Rudy Valentino: divo dei divi” by Nico Cirasola, with Claudia Cardinale and Nicola Nocella (produced by Bunker lab). Also in December Angelo Casto filmed his short “Il respiro del Sud” (produced by Arancia film), in Mattinata, Candela, Stornarella, Stornara, Ortanova and Foggia.