Barrier: "Cinecittà between tradition and innovation remains a unicum"

“Cinecittà must be more and more a flywheel for internalization, for the global challenges that are faced with our companies. Cinecittà with this PNRR is becoming a very important pole for national and international audiovisual”. This is the line traced by President of Cinecittà and President of the Italian Audiovisual Manufacturer Association, Chiara Sbarigia, In an interview with AGI on the sidelines of the Forum review in Masseria organized by Bruno Vespa and Comin & Partners at the Baths of Saturnia. A chat on what is the future of production and on the role that the Roman pole plays in the sector between innovation and the profound tradition of the studios in via Tuscolana.

“232 million of the PNRR have been assigned to us and we are working on four main lines: one is the expansion of the ability of the laying theaters that increase by 60% to 2026. We are in line with all national and European points. In June we deliver i First 4 theaters out of nineAnd we are also in line on professional training with artisan shops to recover those knowledge that are so important for ours cinema and that they allowed us to win many Oscar: we are seconds after the USA with the technical categories. A training that was made in collaboration with great partners such as La Scala and Matera. There we went around Italy because Cinecittà is in Rome but it is a national heritage. Also, thanks to the PNRR funds, we are digitizing one and a half million photographs that were missing and 13 thousand audiovisuals. We are therefore very satisfied with how it is going. Also, we have a whole part on the efficiency del green”.
How abroad how do our studios look?

We recently visited the CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, which was very impressed by these great studies that are no longer even found to Hollywood. Cinecittà remains a unicum for its great spaces such as the Theater 5 of Fellini who is so far is one of the largest in Europe. We are building something truly unique.

Is it a heritage that also opens up to citizens?
Yes because we have a whole museum that we have implemented. We have the MIAC, we have ‘Cinecittà shows himself’we bring many schools, tourists, citizens on set like that romano who left from HBOwhich is one of the largest and extends for 4 hectares. We recovered the study of Ettore Scola, Everything except the kitchens where the pasta was made – jokes bar – we have many new photographic acquisitions, all of women because finally after 100 years we also have many women photographers.

As a woman driving Cinecittà, what are the greatest challenges she faces?
Being interlocutors is already a step forward. A little pioneering because they were all men there until recently. Even in the Audiovisual Producers Association (APA) there are many men, but also very good women. In my opinion the most important challenge is on money. For example, for producers you have to have Grandi Budget also for the directors. We now play it above all about remuneration.

Is this a path that leads to the digital transformation of what was the work of workers?
In fact, we have one smart studio which is super digital. We did there one Quoyola performance who worked on the materials of the archive with The IA to celebrate the centenary of the Istituto Luce. It was a spectacular thing that has ended up ended up in the archive. I on theArtificial intelligencebeyond the rules and protection of copyright and image, I think it gives many opportunities to this industry. – and adds – We have a great machine that builds with the wooden sheet Or the polystyrene of the great structures that would be more difficult by hand.

Cinecittà is an Italian and world heritage. What are its competitors?
The biggest competitors and you have to be ambitious to consider it such is Pinewood Studios in Inghilterrawho came more than once to see if he could enter the capital of Cinecittà. They bought other studies in Canada, they are strong. We also have other local studies here, of companies that have built them perhaps to give for example the very long seriality.But undoubtedly we in Europe are strong.

What is the cinema, audiovisual and platform report?
Netflix this year brings 100 million investment in audiovisual production, becoming an important player in the market where the funding of Rai and Mediaset, which before divided the cake. However, Rai remains with 73% of dependent companies and Netflix occupied 24% of the market, while the rooms to talk about cinema only 5%.