2021 report on productions accepted and activities carried out by the Veneto Film Commission

Venice, February 18, 2022. From Netflix series to major film productions, from Italian fiction to international television broadcasts: thanks to the work of the Veneto Film Commission, operational since 2020, this year we will see Veneto on every media channel. In 2021, the young institution has firmly established itself as a leading player in the audiovisual industry., supporting 150 local, national and international productions, which have opened their sets in Veneto, including those that received regional funding and those that availed of development assistance services, location identification, permit applications, and personnel recruitment among professionals and workers residing in our Region.

At the cinema this year the Veneto will be represented by major international films: “Across the River and into the Trees”, on Hemingway's Italian period, filmed by Paula Ortiz between Venice and Treviso, in the historic centers and on the banks of the Piave, with the Hollywood star Liev Schreiber, “Veneciafrenia”, a thrilling carnival that Álex de la Iglesia set in Venice and Chioggia, and the romantic comedy “The Honeymoon” by Dean Craig, with Maria Bakalova (nominated for an Oscar in 2021 for “Borat – subsequent movie film”), which travels from the Venetian lagoon to the Euganean Hills in the Padua area. Among the most anticipated Italian films we will see on the big screen in spring “Natural Left-Handed” with Claudia Gerini and Katia Ricciarelli, filmed by Salvatore Allocca in Vicenza (in 2020), followed by “The Return of Casanova” by Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores with Toni Servillo who shows us some of the real jewels of the area from Villa Dionisi in the province of Verona to Villa Fracanzan in the Vicenza area to the Walls of Montagnana in the province of Padua, ending with “My Paper Girls”, starring Maya Sansa and Neri Marcorè, set by Luca Lucini in Treviso.

Netflix will bring the film to its platform “Love in the Villa” directed by Mark Steven Johnson with two American stars Tom Hopper and Kat Graham, who meet in Verona, and the series Lux Vide, set instead in Chioggia. While on Sky we will see the documentary “Dante – Escape from Hell” filmed in the areas between Venice and Padua.

Foreign television audiences will see Veneto as the protagonist in the series “Eau de vie”, filmed among the vineyards and distilleries of the Vicenza area for the ZDF, the first German national network, and in the episode of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” dedicated to Venice, which will be broadcast on the historic American channel CNN.

Among the works that have benefited from the funding of the POR FESR 2014-2020 Axis 3 Action 3.3.2 Call, they have had prestigious international showcases in 2021 the film “Futura” by Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi and Alice Rohrwacher, in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section at the Venice Film Festival Cannes, the documentary “Marina Cicogna: life and everything else” by Andrea Bettinetti, at the Film Festival of Rome and “Veneciafrenia” by De la Iglesia at the Festival of Sitges.

“A significant result if we consider that the productions have involved the regional territory in a widespread way – comments Jacopo Chessa, director of the Veneto Film Commission – giving international visibility not only to Venice, but also to places still little explored by cinema but deserving of attention as locations: from the Euganean Hills to the Chioggia marina, from the Venetian villas to the historic centers of the capitals. Furthermore, the films shot in Veneto that we will see this year in theaters or on platforms span a variety of genres, from romance to thrillers, from comedy to biopics, reaching diverse audiences, who will thus be able to discover our environmental, architectural, historical, and cultural riches. Finally, it must be considered that 2021 was still a year heavily impacted by the pandemic, with limitations and great efforts in the production of audiovisual works by the production companies, who have chosen our Region, and whom I thank. The Veneto Film Commission is constantly committed to organizing in the region, and networking is essential, which sees us promote Veneto as an ideal setting in the main meeting places for international producers, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the International Audiovisual Market in Rome.

“In addition to the tourism benefits that these 150 productions we assisted in Veneto in 2021 will have as an effect thanks to their diffusion – he adds Luigi Bacialli, President of the Veneto Film Commission – We must consider the economic benefits that the presence of film sets brings to the region, both for the hospitality and logistics sectors, from hotels to catering to transportation, and for the employment of professionals and workers resident in our region, whom we, as the Veneto Film Commission, help train. Also very important this year was the adoption of the "Green Film" guidelines for reducing consumption and waste during the production of audiovisual works in our region. Funding allocated to support audiovisual productions in our region totaled €1.5 million in 2021, and is expected to double in 2022. We are currently evaluating the 35 projects that have applied for financial support from the new POR FESR call, including international projects that will further enhance Veneto's leading role on the global film scene.

Attached is a detailed document on the main activities of the Veneto Film Commission in 2021.