A cross-party “yes” to the cinema bill, first tabled by Schlein and inspired by Pupi Avati

Rome. It’s Elly’s film, in the sense that Schlein is the lead sponsor of the cinema bill approved yesterday at first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, with a cross-party agreement between the centre-left, centre-right and centrists. Only the Lib Dems and the Futurists were absent, prompting one deputy to cry out about the ‘Marattin-Vannacci axis’ (Lib Dem Luigi Marattin replied, half-jokingly: ‘I’ve been making videos since August to say no to this bill; if anything, it’s Vannacci who voted like us. If he stops talking about remigration, he’s almost ready to be a liberal”). It is Elly’s bill, but also that of the film director Pupi Avati – who, in an appeal to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the secretary of the PD, had called for the creation of an independent Film Agency. And here it is: due to be established in two years’ time, with plans to transfer most of the functions currently assigned to the MIC’s Directorate-General for Cinema. But heaven forbid anyone should say ‘like in France’ – otherwise, within the centre-right, ‘perhaps in the League’, as the left whispers, ‘someone will be tempted to throw a spanner in the works as the bill makes its way through the Senate’. Another innovation designed to defuse past controversies (see the case of the Regeni documentary): the committee responsible for deciding on the allocation of public funds to productions will consist of 20 members drawn at random from a list of experts. The law will, however, delegate to the government “the reform and reorganisation of the regulatory framework”, introducing “three-year planning” for resources and areas of intervention.

‘It’s a day of celebration,’ says the Democratic Party secretary, quoting not only her muse Pupi, but also a mysterious film director who, one day in a car park, had told her: ‘If you want to write a good screenplay, put it back in the drawer after the first draft and pick it up again in five years’ time’. “What’s that got to do with it?”, wonders a few onlookers, whilst the Democrats breathe a sigh of relief, allowing themselves to stroll through the Transatlantico with a smile that’s a rare sight these days, given the current issues (from the primaries onwards). Moreover, the passage of the bill (218 votes in favour and 6 against) coincides with the Venice Film Festival, sealing a sort of truce on the matter in the final stretch of a parliamentary term which, as PD MP Matteo Orfini recalls, “began with controversies between the film industry and former minister Gennario Sangiuliano, before culminating in a clash over the refusal to grant public funds to the documentary on Giulio Regeni” and the subsequent call for dialogue by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, during the David di Donatello awards ceremony (to which Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli responded immediately, at the same event: “It is unacceptable not to provide funding for the film on Regeni”). The minister, too, is delighted with the bill. Meanwhile, Federico Mollicone, the Meloni-aligned chair of the Chamber of Deputies’ Culture Committee, is vying with Schlein in his jubilation (praising the joint work “in the interest of the Nation” with a capital N). Honeyed words flow: “an atmosphere of harmony”; “valuable collaboration”. However, a cross-party MP is concerned, deciphering the words of the League’s Under-Secretary for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni (whilst praising the harmony, Borgonzoni also praises the government for “having found 200 million for the sector”). Rewinding the proceedings, Orfini expresses satisfaction not only with the planned creation of the Agency, but also “with the measures on welfare and discontinuity allowances for workers in the sector”. Meanwhile, in the Chamber, opposition MP Marattin shouts: “How splendid you are, the single party of public spending! The Agency makes no sense; it is a duplicate of the Directorate-General for Cinema!” The question now is whether the law will resolve the problem of uncertainty for productions. The bill has incorporated almost in its entirety the section of the proposed cinema reform bill, originally tabled by Valentina Grippo – Vice-Chair of the Culture Committee and MP for Azione – specifically the part dealing with the three-year programme, the certainty and predictability of resources, and clearly defined timelines for procedures and disbursements, whilst defending the tax credit as a structural lever for investment. “This is the heart of the bill,” Grippo says, recounting an illuminating episode she recently experienced in Venice: “Right at the entrance to the Hotel Excelsior and the Biennale, there was a prominent advertisement for the Saudi Film Commission: ‘Saudi Arabia. Epic locations. Unmatched incentives’, offering a cash rebate of up to 60 per cent. It is an image that illustrates what is happening far better than any analysis could.”