WTI Magazine #28    2014 May, 1
Author : Simone doc Bracci      Translation by:

It was the set of "Ben Hur", "Elena di Troia" (Helen of Troy), "Francesco" (Francis of Assisi), "Cleopatra", "Il tormento e l'estasi " (The Agony and the Ecstasy) and most of the classic Federico Fellini movies, considered a prestigious location, with a high potential. Cinecittà, the Dream Factory, was inaugurated on April 21, 1937.

Its name evokes big stars and a glorious past, then you wake up and realize that nowadays it is nothing but a graveyard of stars. Now that Google has "declared" its rebirth through a celebratory doodle, the new government is at least trying to make sense of this mess of our recent history.

The idea is to repay through tax credit, which is a smart choice, the 25% of the cost for foreign productions who want to make films in Rome. Just like "To Rome With Love", one of the uglier and less inspired Woody Allen films.

These projects aimed to restore luster to the Studios: so we want to think positive and give you some names. "Everest" from the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur Samper has just finished filming , and in a few days will begin the shooting of another international project, "Road to Capri" from Boris Damast, and then there will be the new Italian fiction "Squadra mobile" from Pietro Valsecchi's Eat Movie.

The stages are still active and want to begin to shake off the reputation of futility that has conditioned them in the last two decades, in perfect harmony with the cultural decline undertaken all over the country. The initiative of Google is like a godsend, with the benefit of hindsight foreigners are still those who exploit Italy and, consequently, cinema benefits in full effect from this.

Damaged during the bombing of Rome in World War II, the studies re-opened in 1950, attracting some of the biggest and most successful Hollywood productions of the time. Today they're back and through the event called "Ave Cinecittà" it will be possible to experience a complete visit on the set with a "behind the scene" situation and other interesting scenarios: the new epic film in the Eternal City starts again.

The hope is to keep the studios at least at acceptable levels, giving space to movies showing talent and stories and then, eventually, going back to describe Cinecittà as the factory of dreams and not as a construction yard.