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Italy for Movies (www.italyformovies.it) is the portal dedicated to theatrical locations and production incentives that went online last August.
The bilingual Italian-English website is mainly aimed at international producers who will now have the opportunity to look up a selection of Italian locations in a single catalogue divided into regions, placed within a geo localized database complete with practical information, environmental details, organizational contacts and links to all the incentiverà available for anyone choosing to film in that particular region.
It is an additional tool that makes it possible to combine creative and production requirements with the beauty of the country’s cultural patrimony because, as the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, speaking at the presentation of the website during the Venice Film Festival also underlined, “we know very well that a film displaying the beauties of Italy is worth a more than lots of paid commercials promoting our cultural assets. Italy for Movies encapsulates the essence of the Ministry which has brought tourism and culture together, the sign of a season in which greater institutional attention is being paid to a crucial sector in terms of cultural product and film industry”.
And likewise because, as the director general for Cinema, Nicola Borrelli, rightly observed, “the functions that the new Film Law assigns to the State include the carrying out of activities for promoting the image of Italy through cinema and audiovisuals for reasons of tourism as well”.
Italy for Movies is divided into four main sections: in addition to news, where it will be possible to discover all the latest information about new incentives and cinema connected to the regions, the “location” area can be used to find potential sets via a search engine organized into dynamic categories: territorial position, type of location, classification of buildings and sites, historical period, atmospheric suggestions.
The “incentives” section, essentially aimed at members of the trade, offers a chance to discover all the special terms and conditions available for filming in Italy, providing a complete and up-to-date picture of the incentives and facilities supporting productions on an international, national and regional level.
Each data sheet concisely illustrates the requisites and modalities for accessing the resources, the financial allocations, the expenditure limits and the various deadlines referencing, for further information, the institutional websites of the European programs, the General Directorate for Cinema of MiBACT [Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism], the Regional Funds and the Film Commissions.
However the portal also has a tourist vocation which is directed towards enthusiastic viewers, increasing numbers of whom love to travel around film venues.
Because, as the Director General for Tourism, Francesco Palumbo, emphasizes: “cinema is an extraordinary regional marketing tool that is able to interact with the inspirational phase of the journey. The images in a movie manage to arouse the viewer’s interest in the places where the film is made and nourish the imaginative dimension, the first stage of planning a travel experience”.
The “ film map” area is dedicated to this very aspect, a journey through the regions of Italy starting from the movies and the locations chosen by directors in which to set their works. The film data sheets also contain information about the various places and cross-references websites that promote the specific regions under an artistic, cultural and food and wine profile. This demonstrates that a high quality Italian movie or an international production that chooses to film in Italy always represents the most extraordinary promotional vehicle for our country.
