ITALY: Support from the Regions for Digitalisation
Since the end of 2010 and during 2011, various financial tools have been implemented to support , paying particular attention to small exhibitors and independent theatres, which have difficulty in accessing VPF schemes for financing the transition. According to the findings published by MEDIA Salles and the European Audiovisual Observatory in The European Digital Cinema Report, in 2011 sixty different support projects for digital conversion were operating in Europe in thirteen different European countries and on a pan-European scale.
Most (42) of these are projects operating at a regional level, whilst another 15 are managed on a national scale. A further three schemes work on a supranational scale and are promoted by the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
In Italy the Regions continue to play an essential role in the process of digital conversion in movie theatres.
There follows an account of the main updates.
Sicily
The funds allocated by the Region of Sicily for the of its cinemas will amount to 5,560,000 euros. Of this sum, 3 million will be made available by the Apq Sensi Contemporanei fund (i.e. the Agreement on a Framework Programme for "The promotion and spread of contemporary art and the enhancement of Southern Italy’s architectural and urban contexts" signed by the Region) from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Following the declarations made on 13 and 14 March by the Director of the Service CineSicilia Film Commission, Pietro Di Miceli, at the conference Cinema e Impresa in Sicilia: produzione, festival, sale - Tax Credit: nuove opportunità di investimento nei cinema per banche e imprese (Cinema and business enterprise in Sicily: production, festivals, theatres - Tax Credit: new opportunities of investment in cinemas for banks and business companies), comes the official announcement by the regional Presidencies of the AGIS and ANEC: the call will be published on 30 July 2012.
The maximum expenditure for the overall adaptation of a cinema will be 100,000 euros, of which 50% is guaranteed by a contribution to the capital from the resources referred to in the official call and 30% by a national Tax Credit, also used as a point of reference for the definition of the spending allowed and procedures for the application for financing.
It will also be possible to implement the resources through re-programming or other regional, national and community funds.
The Region of Sicily thus joins the Italian Regions supporting the shift to the new technology.
Apulia (Puglia)
In 2011 the Apulia Region, with the collaboration of AGIS and ANEC and the management of the Apulia Film Commission, foresaw a form of intervention for the of cinemas based on an allocation of 1.3 million euros through the European Regional Development Fund.
The financing addresses small exhibitors - no more than four screens - which can apply for a contribution not exceeding 40,000 euros per screen.
At the end of April the results of the first selection were published: of the 47 applications presented, 32 were financed, for a total of 1,160,621 euros. A further two applications were judged eligible but not possible to finance.
Amongst the applications accepted was that of the Cinema Bellarmino, in Taranto, managed by Daniele Roussier Fusco, who will be one of the participants on the DigiTraining Plus 2012 course (his photo is published above in the section "The course participants").
To view the list of cinemas that obtained financing in Apulia, please click here.
For an overview of the present situation, region by region, please click on the map.
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Lombardy
The Region of Lombardy has actively supported the of its theatres since 2008. In that same year 13 of the 22 applications presented were financed, whilst 5 were approved but not financed because funds had been exhausted.
In the following year there were 27 applications, 18 of which obtained financing, whilst 7, though approved, were not financed.
Finally 2 million euros were made available in 2011 for the technological updating of cinemas and the purchase of equipment for digital projection including the necessary accessories and the costs of planning and managing the work (up to a limit of 7% of the total cost). Financing varies between 35,000 and 250,000 euros and may, in no case, amount to over 70% of total costs.
Further intervention was promoted, again in 2011, by Lombardy’s Regional authorities in collaboration with the Provinces of Novara and of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, with an overall investment of 2 million euros made available to private, non-profit organizations, ecclesiastical and religious bodies and public administrations managing multi-purpose theatres. The objective is to reinforce the ties between multi-purpose cultural centres and the territory through the financing of interventions for technological innovation.
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Piedmont
Intervention by the Region of Piedmont dates from 2011 with the objective of supporting the of small and medium-sized enterprises in the sector of the cinema, including parish cinemas.
The overall sum of this financing amounts to 1,500,000 euros and had been fully utilized by May 2012.
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Veneto
The Region of Veneto has decided to allocate 300,000 euros for the of cinemas in 2012. The same sum is expected to be confirmed for 2013 and 2014. Marino Zorzato, Vice-President of the Region and Head of Culture, emphasized the importance of the financing, particularly for small movie houses, including parish cinemas, for allowing them to survive commercially whilst maintaining quality programming.
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Emilia Romagna
In Emilia Romagna the first financing for the of cinemas came in the context of a measure to support technological innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises and was launched in 2011 with an overall sum of 10 million euros allocated to it.
In addition, in 2012 the Regional Councillors Alberto Vecchi, Luigi Giuseppe Villani and Andrea Pollastri presented a resolution on support for the of small theatres.
The text states that as from 2014 the digital shift will be "more or less obligatory" for all Italian cinemas but that small theatres, parish theatres and cine-studios "do not possess the economic means for sustaining this transformation". The intervention of the Region through a special call offering financing is thus requested.
The Councillors also point out "the crisis that has for years been affecting cinemas in Italy, including Emilia-Romagna," and demands that "the role of the cinema, seen as a cultural enterprise rooted in the territory," should be safeguarded.
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Tuscany
Tuscany again proves to be one of the most sensitive and active regions in the area of support for . On 27 April an official call for the innovation and of cinemas was renewed (deadline 31 May 2012), with the allocation of one million euros.
In April Cristina Scaletti, the Regional Authorities’ Head of Culture, declared: "Thanks to these contributions 70 structures equally distributed throughout the territory now have the right tools for standing up to increasingly fierce competition. We wish to continue along this path and make small theatres competitive and innovative on the market; this is why we have allocated a further one million euros. It’s another step forward in the Region of Tuscany’s policy for defending smaller-scale cultural initiatives."
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Umbria
100,000 euros were made available by the Region of Umbria in 2011 in the form of an official call which, as well as regarding the of small cinemas, foresees support to the local TV system for transition to digital terrestrial technology. Investments covered by this financing
include the purchase of equipment for cinema projection and the reception of digital signals, both terrestrial and via satellite, but also specialized technical consultancy, where strictly functional to the implementation of the initiatives (up to a maximum of 10% of the overall cost granted).
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Marche
Since 2009 the Marche Region has supported the digital transition of cinemas by means of three official calls offering financing for investments in innovation, which small and medium-sized enterprises could apply for. In 2009, 9 theatres presented applications: 8 had their projects approved, for a total allocation of funds amounting to 406,351.15 euros. The following year, 5 theatres requested financing: all the applications were approved but unfortunately no financing was forthcoming due to funds being exhausted. For the third offer, relating to 2011, the results are still being awaited.
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Lazio
The Region of Lazio established an official call for technological innovation in small and medium-sized businesses in the audiovisual sector in 2009, allocating financing amounting to a total of 16 million euros.
This support could be applied for by cinemas for the purchase and installation of digital projectors (a maximum of one per theatre). Of the 35 applications presented, 28 have been approved.
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Apulia (Puglia)
In 2011 the Apulia Region, with the collaboration of AGIS and ANEC and the management of the Apulia Film Commission, foresaw a form of intervention for the of cinemas based on an allocation of 1.3 million euros through the European Regional Development Fund.
The financing addresses small exhibitors - no more than four screens - which can apply for a contribution not exceeding 40,000 euros per screen.
At the end of April the results of the first selection were published: of the 47 applications presented, 32 were financed, for a total of 1,160,621 euros. A further two applications were judged eligible but not possible to finance.
Amongst the applications accepted was that of the Cinema Bellarmino, in Taranto, managed by Daniele Roussier Fusco, who will be one of the participants on the DigiTraining Plus 2012 course (his photo is published above in the section "The course participants").
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Sicily
The funds allocated by the Region of Sicily for the of its cinemas will amount to 5,560,000 euros. Of this sum, 3 million will be made available by the Apq Sensi Contemporanei fund (i.e. the Agreement on a Framework Programme for "The promotion and spread of contemporary art and the enhancement of Southern Italy’s architectural and urban contexts" signed by the Region) from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Following the declarations made on 13 and 14 March by the Director of the Service CineSicilia Film Commission, Pietro Di Miceli, at the conference Cinema e Impresa in Sicilia: produzione, festival, sale - Tax Credit: nuove opportunità di investimento nei cinema per banche e imprese (Cinema and business enterprise in Sicily: production, festivals, theatres - Tax Credit: new opportunities of investment in cinemas for banks and business companies), comes the official announcement by the regional Presidencies of the AGIS and ANEC: the call will be published on 30 July 2012.
The maximum expenditure for the overall adaptation of a cinema will be 100,000 euros, of which 50% is guaranteed by a contribution to the capital from the resources referred to in the official call and 30% by a national Tax Credit, also used as a point of reference for the definition of the spending allowed and procedures for the application for financing.
It will also be possible to implement the resources through re-programming or other regional, national and community funds.
The Region of Sicily thus joins the Italian Regions supporting the shift to the new technology.
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