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Four hundred eighty thousand visitors, 6837 accredited professionals and 170 films from over 33 countries for a total of over 650 screenings. These are just a few of the numbers that recount the success of the second Festa del Cinema held in Rome at the end of October.
Filas was present at the Rome Festa del Cinema not only to promote and implement activities in the framework of F.I.L.M.S. - (Filming in Lazio Makes Sense) the regional project aimed at relaunching the Lazio AV sector on the International market, but also as one of the organizers of a series of international meetings between movie producers and directors from Europe and Asia.
The Lazio Region participated in the Terre di Cinema Conference, held on October 18th, to compare the policies, strategies and resources of the European regions with the most important cinematographic sectors. The aim of the conference was to sign an agreement to promote financial and organisational resources supporting cinematographic projects on the European market.
On October 19th, the FICCI (Federation of Indian Commerce Chambers and Industry) Coproduction Meeting was held at Hotel Bernini, seat of the Business Street initiative. More than thirty Indian movie producers met as many Italian producers through a series of agreements stipulated with Filas last March in Mumbai, India. India was the official 2007 guest country at the Rome Festa del Cinema.
The second part of this event witnessed the participation of a five-man delegation of producers from Singapore, invited by Filas who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore in 2006. As part of the agreement a delegation of Lazio Region producers will be invited to Singapore for the Asia Media Festival in late November by MDA.
In the framework of the Focus India Initiative, a location tour to some of the most important and famous sites in the Lazio Region were given to Asian producers and other interested parties to entice them to take advantages of the many filming settings and opportunities provided by the Lazio Region to foreign companies.
On October 20th, the CRC Capital Regions for Cinema Coproduction Meetings were held at the same location with European producers. The Cultural Councillorship of the Lazio Region, Filas and the Roma and Lazio Film Commission organized the meeting. The event received the patronage of Ms. Vivian Reding, European Commissioner for Media and the Information Society.
On the same date, Filas and the Roma and Lazio Film Commission invited the FICCI delegation and Focus India partners to a gala dinner on the Krug Terrace of the Bernini Hotel. The highlight of the gala featured an award presented to Indian cinema legend and Bollywood stalwart Yash Chopra by Regional Councillor Giulia Rodano in recognition of his role in the Indian film industry and especially for his work to promote collaboration between the Indian and Italian movie industry as chairman of the FICCI Entertainment Committee.
On October 21st, at the Casa del Cinema, more than sixty European movie producers and directors were presented with the opportunity to meet extra-European producers and directors selected by the New Cinema Network. The selected operators received a complete presentation on Filas tools for the audiovisual sector. Selection criteria included producers and directors at their debut with at least one work completed in 2006.
From October 18 to 27, Filas representatives, along with members of the Roma and Lazio Film Commission, were present at a stand at the Rome "Parco della Musica" Auditorium to present the project to cinema sector operators.
These activities continue to trace a natural development of what Filas has implemented, on behalf of the Lazio Region in 2006, to promote the regional AV and cinema sectors and create a bridge with some of the most important markets in the flourishing Asian market.
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Filas manages two important measures for the Audiovisual and Cinematographic sector financed by the 2006 regional budget: venture capital operations in enterprises for innovation projects, coproduction, assistance on VAT issues and rapid VAT reimbursement to non-EU producers filming in the Lazio Region. This agreement represents one of the many initiatives by Regione Lazio Councillor for Culture, Giulia Rodano, who has also signed an important act for coproductions with European regions (Berlin Brandenburg, Comunidad de Madrid, Ile de France and Lazio). The agreement was signed in Rome, during the 2006 Festa del Cinema.
Above all, however, in line with the European Union, the Lazio Region and Filas aim at increasing collaboration with Asia as one of the main pillars of future development. In December 2006, Filas signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the MDA Media Development Authority of Singapore to explore the potential to be derived from strategic alliances, the significance of innovation and the reciprocal benefits that could derive from collaborating.
On March 26, 2006, in Mumbai, Filas General Manager Stefano Turi and Amit Mitra, Secretary General of FICCI, signed an important agreement for international collaboration and the development of the audiovisual and cinematographic markets in the framework of FICCI-Frames 2007. 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. FICCI is a federation that 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.
These agreements have lead to significant international coproduction meetings that were held at the Cannes Film Festival last May. The Coproduction meetings between Italian and Asian producers attracted a large number of visitors and the more than 50 production houses from Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, India and Italy were able to discuss coproduction opportunities both for the traditional cinematography and for the animation and advertisement markets.
These initiatives have allowed the Lazio Region to open a fundamental communication channel with Asian countries and their markets, providing regional enterprises and SMEs with the opportunity to access some of the most important global cinema and audiovisual markets.
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