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After reaping the rewards of a protracted growth spurt, Italy’s film industry is facing a forced slowdown as the country’s right-wing government dithers with modifications they plan to make to several key regulations, most significantly to the country’s now stalled tax incentives for film and TV production. At a packed protest event held earlier this […]

Marco Mueller has been appointed artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival, which will have a top notch selection committee comprising British film curator and former London fest chief Sandra Hebron and former Cannes Directors’ Fortnight boss Edouard Waintrop. As anticipated by Variety, Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome […]

Prime Video has announced the full cast for action comedy-drama “Costiera” set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast being directed by Emmy-winner Adam Bernstein (“30 Rock,” “Breaking Bad”) and featuring Jesse Williams (“Take Me Out”) as the lead. The ensemble cast for the English-language series being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide […]

Qatar-based powerhouse BeIN Media Group, a co-owner of U.S. indie studio Miramax, has taken distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to live-action pre-school series “Saïd & Anna,” which has been nominated for this year’s Banff World Media Festival‘s Rockie Awards. Dutch sales agent Incredible Film has announced a MENA distribution […]

Euro Gang Entertainment, the company launched last year by Hollywood veterans Gianni Nunnari (“300,” “Immortals”) and Simon Horsman (“Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers”) is ramping up operations in Italy through a partnership with Rome-based Alfred Film, the young shingle co-founded by experienced producers Roberto Amoroso and Maria Theresia Braun. The Euro Gang […]

Samar Akrouk has been appointed managing director of Saudi production powerhouse MBC Studios, replacing U.S. producer Christina Wayne, who recently quietly exited the top post at the production arm of top Middle East broadcaster MBC Group. Akrouk, who has been with MBC for almost 30 years, is currently the group’s director of production. She will […]

Veteran film festivals curator and chief Marco Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests – among several other events – is operationally back in Italy where he is expected to be appointed artistic director of Sicily’s storied but troubled Taormina Film Festival. According to several sources Mueller, who […]

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with a retrospective featuring classic titles spawned by the Hollywood studio between the dawn of sound and the late 1950s. The Locarno retro, titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures,” is being curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director […]

Intishal Al Timimi, founder and chief of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, is stepping down from the fest’s top leadership role. Al Timimi had joined the festival when it launched in 2017 in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, 250 miles south of Cairo, and rapidly put the event on the international festival […]

Toronto-based sales agent Syndicado Film Sales has acquired international rights to German director Caroline von der Tann’s Naples-set doc “The Gospel According to Ciretta” ahead of its world premiere at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Film Festival. In “The Gospel According to Ciretta,” the titular character, Ciretta, is a young petty crook and occasional male prostitute […]