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Around Europe in…how many days?
by Elisabetta Brunella
 Around Europe in how many days? This parody of the title of Verne’s famous novel actually helps us to tackle a very serious question: in the era of day and date, distribution modes that call into question the duration of theatrical exclusivity and more in general the chronology of releases onto the various viewing channels for films, how long does an Italian title - or co-production - take to reach the different European markets?
There is no single answer to this question but the trend is fairly clear: still today, as has emerged in the past, it takes months, if not even years. This is also demonstrated by the data on 2023 releases in those countries of the Old Continent that have already provided MEDIA Salles with their first statistics.
In the year just past, for example, “Il materiale emotivo”/”A Bookshop in Paris”, a co-production with France and the United States, was the 2023 Italian title most seen in Finland, where it was released on 19 May, whilst it came second in Sweden’s classifications (17 February). But Sergio Castellitto’s film had already arrived on the European scene in 2021 and in 2022 it had come in top place amongst Italian films in Greece and Bulgaria, fourth in Estonia, fifth in Portugal, sixth in Denmark and Latvia.
A similar situation is to be seen for “Le otto montagne”/”The eight mountains”, which in 2023 was in first place in the Italian charts in Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, second in Spain, Austria, Finland and Turkey, fourth in Croatia, fifth in Portugal and sixth in Bulgaria.
In almost all these countries distribution of the adaptation of Cognetti’s book had begun in Spring 2023, continuing throughout the summer months, whilst in the previous year it had already reached a large number of European markets, starting with Belgium and France - the co-producers. Austria provides a significant example, where already in 2022, despite its release just before the New Year, it won fifth place amongst films from the Bel Paese.
The European distribution of “Nostalgia” also came at the year’s end between 2022 and 2023. In the year just past Martone’s film, set in Naples, came in second place in Norway, third in Denmark, fifth in Sweden and Finland, sixth in Ireland and Austria, eighth in Estonia and tenth in Switzerland, a market it entered in 2022 in eleventh place, as also happened for “L’immensità”/”The immensity”.
In 2023 Crialese’s film came second in Ireland and Denmark, third in Austria, Turkey, Estonia, Finland and Sweden, sixth in Switzerland (whilst the previous year it was nineteenth), seventh in Croatia, eighth in Portugal and twelfth in Bulgaria.
The champions of longevity are those titles that for two - or even more - consecutive years, obtain high positions on the same market.
Amongst these, as well as the already mentioned “Nostalgia”, in the Swiss Confederation pride of place goes to “The truffle hunters”, which had been the welcome surprise of 2021. At the time, after having won over audiences and critics in US festivals such as Sundance and Telluride, it had come top of the charts for Italian films in the United Kingdom. And two years later, this film about Piedmontese truffle hunters still managed to claim sixth place in Finland, after its brilliant success in first place in 2022.
It is worthwhile taking time for a brief comment on its local title “Piemonten tryffelinmetsästäjät”, where we, too, can clearly recognize the addition of the reference to Piedmont, evidently considered by the distributors an element that would appeal to Finnish audiences. Just as the eminently Italian name “Mascarpone” was used - again in Finland, as well as on dozens of other markets - to re-baptize the gay dramedy “Maschile singolare”.
But which films started to conquer the European markets in 2023 with a success that we might imagine continuing in 2024?
Let’s start with “Il colibri”/”The hummingbird”, in 2023 came in third place in the classification of Italian productions in Spain and Bulgaria, fourth in Denmark, sixth in Sweden, ninth in Austria, tenth in Portugal, fourteenth in Croatia, fifteenth in Switzerland, passing on to “L’ultima notte di Amore”/”The last night of Amore”, first in Greece and fifth in Croatia, and to “Il sol dell’avvenire”/”Red sunrise”, first in Portugal and Spain, fourth in Switzerland and Hungary, and the two films by female directors: “La chimera” by Alice Rohrwacher, sixth in Denmark, ninth in Switzerland and tenth in Austria, and “C’è ancora domani”/”There's still tomorrow” by the revelation Paola Cortellesi, third in Switzerland.
Not to forget a genre where Italy has gained itself a prestigious role: added content of a cultural nature, which in 2023 reached a peak with “L’ombra di Caravaggio”/”Caravaggio’s shadow”, the ambassador of artistic excellence from the Bel Paese in a series of European territories from Sweden to Croatia, from Spain and Greece to Switzerland, right up to Estonia and Bulgaria, where it took the silver medal, as well as to Austria and Hungary, countries where it stands at the top of the podium.
This is an updated version of the article published in the Berlinale special issue of Cinema & Video Int'l, the MEDIA Salles media partner.
ITALIAN FILMS IN EUROPE AND THEIR RANKING IN THE ITALIAN TOP TEN LIST IN EACH COUNTRY*
*By admissions, apart from Ireland, based on GBO
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