March 26, 2007
From Cinecittà to Bollywood, from the Rome Cinema Festival to the Frames Convention of Mumbai: East and West form an alliance on cinema and TV to broaden their industries and contrast the American monopoly.
A memorandum of agreement for the development of the audiovisual industry amongst the two parties was signed on March 26, 2007 in Mumbai by Filas General Manager Stefano Turi and Amit Mitra, the General Secretary of FICCI (The Indian Federation of Commerce Chambers). The memorandum was signed at the presence of Italian Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the Culture, Entertainment and Sports Councillor of the Regione Lazio, Giulia Rodano, the Indian Information Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Yash Chopra, Chairman FICCI Entertainment Committee.
The bilateral agreement will promote the Italian and Indian audiovisual industries for a period of three years by creating new trade opportunities as well as promoting shared development of advanced technologies for cinema and TV, creation of coproductions, identification of public and private financial resources and co-participation in important events such as the Rome Cinema Festival and the Frames Convention of Mumbai.
This agreement is unprecedented in the entertainment sector. On the one hand, inn the last five years, India has become the top movie producer in the world (877 movies only in 2004) and can rely on more than 15 million spectators daily, while, on the other hand, the cinematographic tradition of Rome and Lazio continues to represent a third of the total national audiovisual market. The agreement will allow Lazio to expand its trade activities in this sector, which today, in Lazio, represents 2500 enterprises with 54,000 employees. Moreover, international analysts forecast a 70% increase in this market over the next five years.
Councillor Giulia Rodano expressed satisfaction: "The Regione Lazio bolsters its aspiration to become the main audiovisual communication channel between Asia and Europe. This collaboration agreement, which follows that signed in Singapore and the participation in the Hong Kong FILMART, ranges from research on new digital technology to content and will be supported by the funds available for international coproductions and the fast reimbursement of VAT for non-EU audiovisual productions. We therefore invite all Indian and Asian producers to the next edition of the television Fiction Festival, promoted by the Regione Lazio that will be held in July 2007 in Rome.
Filas General Manager Stefano Turi explained "our mission is to bring together public administrations, enterprises and the world of finance in order to promote the most creative and technologically advanced sectors of Lazio. Supporting cinema and audiovisual enterprises and favouring its development on the national and international level, is an important and natural step forward along our line of action and what we are already doing for other productive sectors that mould high-tech, high professionalism and inventiveness. Our audiovisual industry is formed by hundreds of SMEs that need to form alliances and act through coproductions in order to expand. This makes India and other Asian countries with a vast and dynamic internal market ideal partners."
The Italian delegation, organized by Confindustria and ANICA together with FilmItalia, ICE and the Regione Lazio, will participate in the Mumbai festival ending on March 28. The programme includes an Italian cultural evening featuring a concert by Nicola Piovani and specific initiatives dedicated to bilateral collaboration with one-to-one business meetings and conferences on the Italian cinematographic industry.
FICCI has over 3000 members and 500 associated organisms. It federates about 250,000 Indian SMEs and has been directly involved in the development of the media and entertainment sectors for many years. Cooperation with FICCI will open up new routes for exchange and dialogue with Bollywood, the global protagonist of the movie industry.
FICCI-Frames is the main global Asian convention dedicated to the entertainment industry. Italy will participate as a partner country in the eighth edition of the event that will see the participation of no less than 1000 Indian and 500 foreign delegates from 20 different countries.