There are two ideas of Italian cinema present in the world: the first is the one that belongs to us, residents in Italy; the second belongs to anyone who does not reside in the peninsula. And the reason is soon explained. Can a country manage to photograph itself in an unflattering way showing an appreciation of even its worst vices?
For the average Italian, Italian cinema is mostly composed of comedies, many of which are low if not very bad. Rare are the high-profile films that every year are made by high-sounding names and sometimes create word of mouth leading to important takings but still remaining within national borders.
Among the most ardent cinephiles, there is also a platoon of films that attempt to change the genres of Italian cinema itself. For the domestic market the stars of our cinema (the most famous and recognizable names) are represented by actors such as Edoardo Leo, Marco Giallini, Miriam Leone, Claudia Gerini or Margherita Buy. The most famous films are those of Checco Zalone or Carlo Verdone.
For all those who live outside Italy, the most famous Italian films are successes such as The Great Beauty, The Traitor, Here I Laugh and Dogman. Among the most famous names we find Toni Servillo, Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi and Alba Rohrwacher; among the directors Luca Guadagnino, Stefano Sollima, the D'Innocenzo brothers, Susanna Nicchiarelli, the Taviani brothers, Matteo Garrone and Gianfranco Rosi.
The only names that unite abroad and Italy are those of Paolo Sorrentino, Pierfrancesco Favino and Nanni Moretti. And it is no coincidence that a success like The Great Beauty, winner of the 2014 Oscar for best foreign language film and faithful photographer of the lowest virtues belonging to the upper middle class and the Italian aristocracy, has struggled and perhaps still struggles to establish itself on the national scene.
Everything we think is a success in Italy tends not to be abroad and vice versa, the most viewed Italian films outside our country in Italy collect very little. Yet, according to research by ANICA (the association that brings together all categories of the Italian film industry) presented at MIA - International Audiovisual Market in Rome, life abroad of Italian films has changed completely in the last 5 years.
If in the first part of the 10s the value developed by Italian films coming out of our borders was 41 million euros, between 2017 and 2021 it was 92 million, or + 124%. An explosion of Italian films co-produced, distributed in other countries (then sold), purchased from platforms or rented on demand in other countries. A path possible thanks to the interest of politics led by the former minister Dario Franceschini, which from 2017 onwards has activated virtuous paths by allocating large state sums for the in-house production of thick content.
Public support for cinema has been made proportional to private investment, i.e. the more films cost, the more you benefit from government aid. This has led to a drastic increase in the average quality of that type of cinema that travels the world: it is no coincidence if we consider that in the 90s the most important festivals in the world, from Cannes to Venice passing through Locarno, did not always present Italian films; The opposite of what has happened since 2000.
Italians are a susceptible people: they can commit small sins, they can indulge in vices, they can in some cases live in an amoral way. Everything is allowed in the Land of Freedoms, all as long as it is not shown so vividly as to make that photograph not only sad but also squalid; perfect plastic transposition of the wealthy Italian society that incenses and on Sundays attends church beating his chest. It's all wonderful. On the contrary: it is nothing more than the great beauty of the constant contradiction in which a good part of the Italian people likes to wallow.
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