Interview with Fabio Abagnato, Emilia-Romagna Film Commission Director

A record year in 2022, awards for the productions supported. Emilia-Romagna is a region that loves film

There is great productive and creative ferment in the air in the world of cinema in Emilia-Romagna as numerous recent successes prove. The multi award-winning Kidnapped (locations), presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, is a true Emilian story, just like its director Marco Bellocchio. The same goes for Ferrari directed by Michael Mann (an international production assisted by the Film Commission and supported by the Regione Emilia-Romagna 2022 Call) which shot in Modena to tell the story of a legendary local man only to race into competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival (locations).

It is no surprise then to find that 2022 was a record year for both the quality and quantity of productions and for spend in the territory.

“2022 marks the year with the highest spend in the territory from productions supported by the Regional Audiovisual Fund: with 13 projects in development and 44 productions receiving contributions (including feature-length films, series for TV and web, documentaries, short films), grants were disbursed for a total of €3,363,259 while accepted spend in the region reached €24,876,609, well over double last year” says Fabio Abagnato, Emilia-Romagna Film Commission Director, adding: “Furthermore, the increase in both the quality and size of the projects we support has developed hand in hand with the growth in the number of these works being selected for competition and winning recognition at prestigious festivals and domestic and international industry events, in addition to their presence on key platforms and broadcasters”.

What are the strengths of your Film Commission in supporting productions?

Passion and expertise, collaboration and network cover of the territory

Regione Emilia-Romagna’s decision to create an internal Film Commission means it is able to create widespread collaboration across the territory which is efficient and abundant in opportunity. Productions find in us the entry way to an “entire” region, to local communities who love new stories and want to experience them, to an efficient public administration, with whom we speak the same language, always ready to help out, and to businesses and professional institutions that are experienced in, and predisposed towards, problem solving. Our staff is able to activate all this with passion and expertise, thanks to a habit of “doing things together” and this adds financial and artistic value to a cinema project.

Why should productions choose to shoot in Emilia-Romagna?

Financial support with firm dates and a wide range of settings

We know how to be good team mates, at least for those who don’t expect us to act simply as a cash dispenser or who think that cinema should only leave Rome for the least time possible. We believe that we’ve laid the groundwork in recent years for our work to be recognised as being as attentive to financial support, disbursed on firm dates following clear criteria applied with consistency and regularity, as it is to the great range it offers for historical and geographical settings.  Furthermore, a film that is shot in a region that adores cinema has already got a solid base when it is released in theatres.

Any anecdotes/fun facts from the set to tell us? 

Locations that take you elsewhere, sudden schedule changes to juggle, unexpected counterparts

Strange is actually a key word when it comes to creating cinema fiction. It has to be credible for Romeo and Julietto meet at the Castello di Torrechiara, not Verona, and for the police station of Clerville in the Diabolik trilogy to be set in the offices of the Region [in the film about the famous masked thief by Manetti Bros - locations used in Diabolik Ed.], and for the Po Delta to provide the setting for the Swiss clinic in Olimpia’s Way.

It has been interesting and also challenging to get the volunteers for the Carnival floats of Pieve di Cento together for Mio fratello rincorre i dinosauri (locations), to work with bird experts on an avian census in the Po Delta for Michele Vannucci’s Delta (locations), and to transform a school gym in Tresigallo into a  prostitutes’ hotel for Marescotti Ruspoli’s Amusia. It was also strange and interesting to help with a change of schedule on the shoot of Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini when there was an unexpected snowfall on the Riviera that he wanted to take advantage of which gave the film, selected for competition at last year’s Berlinale, a poetic and unusual atmosphere.

What are your future projects?

We are in the midst of great creative and productive ferment, with a wealth of local independent productions and documentaries

We are right in the midst of the second session for calls for productions and we are assisting new projects with scouting locations which we can’t talk about yet; the atmosphere is very stimulating and exciting with works that cover a whole range of styles, themes and formats.

Shooting on a new film from Colorado Films has just finished, it is directed by and stars Fabio de Luigi with Stefano Accorsi as his co-star, and we are waiting to hear about the SKY broadcast date of the series Un amore produced by Cattleya; many of our projects with a high international profile will be at Venice and Rome.

To focus on new projects, the next few months will bring preparation for two debut works, recipients of our Fund grants: Paternal Leave directed by Alissa Jung for Wildside and Le bambine directed by Nicole and Valentina Bertani for Emma Film, in addition to a wealth of independent local productions and our long-established tradition of documentarians.