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Rai Cinema/01: a mix of arthouse, comedy and international films

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- The list of releases for 2015/2016 and data on last season has been released. Coming soon to theatres: Bellocchio, Muccino, Scorsese, Tarantino and Cupellini

Rai Cinema/01: a mix of arthouse, comedy and international films
Marco Bellocchio on the set of Sangue del tuo sangue (© RSI)

19 of the 28 films on the list, which include arthouse films, comedies and big international titles like Silence by Martin Scorsese and The Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino, are Italian, and five are first and second works. The 2015-2015 list from Rai Cinema/01Distribution, which was presented yesterday in Rome, promises a high-quality season, following on from the good results of last year, in which a market share of 13.5% in 2014 and takings of €76 million confirmed 01 as the biggest Italian distributor, and the third biggest distributor overall behind Warner and Universal. "These are important figures, because 80% of our list has historically been made up of Italian films, which bring us between 35 and 40% of the market share in home cinema”, explained the CEO of Rai Cinema Paolo Del Brocco

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Coming to theatres in September is Sicario by Denis Villeneuve, which competed at Cannes this year, and Southpaw by Antoine Fuqua. Then from October we can look forward to Fathers and Daughters [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Gabriele Muccino, starring Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried, She’s Funny That Way by Peter Bogdanovich (screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2014), Tulip Fever by Justin Chadwick, starring Christoph Waltz and Judi Dench, Adam Jones by John Wells with Bradley Cooper, Omar Sy, Daniel Bruhl, Riccardo Scamarcio and Emma Thompson, and Legend by Brian Helgeland, starring Tom Hardy and Emily Browning.

For the second half of the year, covering the period between July and December, the list includes Italian films Sangue del tuo sangue Marco Bellocchio, Tutte lo vogliono by Alessio Maria Federici starring Enrico Brignano, Suburra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefano Sollima
film profile
]
 by Stefano Sollima, Alaska [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Claudio Cupellini, Gli ultimi saranno gli ultimi [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
by Massimiliano Bruno and Il professor Cenerentolo [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile
]
by Leonardo Pieraccioni.

The number of Italian films in the list issued by 01 has increased over the years: in 2002 more than half the list was made up of foreign films, whilst in 2014 Italian films represented more than 80% of it. Rai Cinema currently contributes to the production of over 50 films a year (compared to 15-20 in its early years). Some of these appear in 01’s list, and others will be brought to theatres by other distributors such as Lucky Red, Bim, Fandango, Eagle Pictures, Good Films, Teodora, Bolero, Officine Ubu, Microcinema, and Cinecittà Luce. "This means opening the market and giving opportunities to other distributors too”, said the top brass at RAI Cinema.

In recent years there’s also been a general increase in film production, made possible by increasing the investment budget earmarked for production and sharply reducing the amount spent on purchasing the rights to screen foreign films in theatres. Whilst in 2004 approximately €30 million was being invested in film production, by 2014 this had risen to around €60 million, and €65 million in 2015. 

In the two-year period 2014-2015 Rai Cinema contributed to the production of 115 films with an overall investment of more than €135 million. Out of these, 45 were first and second works and 70 were documentaries.

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(Translated from Italian)

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