Italy’s Struggling Film and TV Industry Welcomes $775 Million Relief Fund

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNetflix is on track to open its Italian base in Rome in the second quarter of 2021, and is committing to doubling down on its output of local original series by 2022.The streaming giant revealed plans to open a Rome office one year ago, just prior to the pandemic, but the crisis slowed down the opening. Now, the company has taken a lease on a large, classy neoclassic building in central Rome, called Villino Rattazzi, located near the U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAce Italian cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, who was instrumental to the making of masterpieces such as Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard” and Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord,” but also worked in Hollywood and was an Oscar nominee for Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz,” has died.

Tigers, a Swedish sports drama based on the true story of teenage soccer talent Martin Bengtsson, has won the top prize, the Dragon Award, for Best Nordic Film at the 2021 Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia's top cinema event. Ronnie Sandahl —the screenwriter on Janus Metz's 2017 tennis biopic Borg vs McEnroe—won over the Göteborg jury with his adaptation of Bengtsson's autobiography, in which he details his experiences as a young player drafted by top Italian team Inter Milan.

Swedish sports drama Tigers, the story of teenage soccer star Martin Bengtsson, was named the Dragon Award winner for Best Nordic Film at the 2021 Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s top film event. The festival was held virtually this year because of the pandemic.

Also Read: Magnolia Pictures Acquires French Love Story 'Two of Us'Madeleine and Nina have planned to sell their apartments and retire together to Italy, but Madeleine has two children, Anne (Léa Drucker) and Frédéric (Jérôme Varanfrain), and she has never managed to tell them that she is in a relationship with Nina.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s CAM Film and Fremantle’s The Apartment have teamed up to acquire rights to bestselling Italian author Carlo Rovelli’s “Helgoland,” an origin story about quantum physics, with plans to turn the book into a high-end TV series.A bestseller in Italy, “Helgoland” will soon be published in the U.K. and elsewhere around world.

Farmison & Co offers incredible quality products which certainly look worth the price. Here is what they have to offer.This romantic Italian-themed Valentine’s Day box features a take on the famous Milanese special of Osso Bucco.The far from basic meat and pasta dish is everything we think you truly need on Valentines Day- a succulent piece of meat and pasta and a bottle of Cianti to share for the occasion.

Six former winners of the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear for best film will make up the jury for this year's event.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s expanding production company Groenlandia — the shingle behind ITV’s “Romulus” skein and recent Netflix Italian original film “The Incredible Story of Rose Island” — is launching a groundbreaking new unit dedicated to women directors and writers.Called Lynn, the new female-driven label is a first for Italy.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the International Jury for its 71st edition.The jury will comprise Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, Israeli director Nadav Lapid, Romania director Adina Pintilie, Hungary director Ildikó Enyedi, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi and Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić.As previously announced, the festival will take place in two stages this year, due to the pandemic.

George Clooney can still vividly recall his terrifying crash in Italy – and how the world reacted. In 2018, the actor slammed his motorbike into an oncoming car that turned suddenly into his lane and was thrown several yards in the air on the Italian island of Sardinia, according to video footage of the accident.

Demi Moore is striking a pose.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAll eyes in Italy’s TV and sports worlds will be on Amazon on Thursday when envelopes for bids to top Italian soccer league Serie A are opened.Amazon is expected to be among the bidders for domestic broadcasting rights to Serie A in a move that could cause huge disruption within the country’s TV and streaming landscape.Serie A league top manager Luigi De Siervo confirmed that talks with Amazon are ongoing during an appearance on a RAI radio show earlier

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentA new Netflix Italian original series titled “Fedeltà,” which translates as “Faithfulness,” has begun shooting in Milan. The relationship drama follows a couple in their thirties contending with the consequences of presumed betrayals.The six-episode show is based on a bestseller by author Marco Missiroli, who won Italy’s top literary prize, the Premio Strega, in 2019.

ROME -- Italian police have recovered a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century “Salvator Mundi” painting of Jesus Christ that was stolen from a Naples church during the pandemic without the priests even realizing it was gone.The discovery was made when Naples police working on a bigger operation found the painting hidden in an apartment.

Manori Ravindran International EditorNetflix’s French original “Lupin” is the streamer’s latest international hit.The SVOD giant projects that the clever Omar Sy-fronted crime caper will be watched by 70 million members within its first 28 days on the service.

Northern Italy is home to some of Europe's most romantic cities and when it's safe for us to travel again, there's no place we'd rather fall in love with again than Venice. For a fantastic return to Europe after lockdown, Country Living is inviting you to join us on a celebrity-led tour of the Italian city's cultural treasures, where you'll meet Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud and ride the iconic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train.