Rai Cinema

While being forced to cope with constantly a falling investment capacity, Rai Cinema succeeded in maintaining a leading role in terms of weight and consideration thanks to a careful buying policy, cutting out a space of its own in a highly competitive market, thanks to consolidated relationships and fast action.

Rai Cinema pays constant attention to the continuing evolution of the types of broadcasting rights that can be purchased, considering the consolidation of ever new forms of exploitation and a Rai Group strategy based on the development of DTT and new business models and on-line offerings.
In detail, the company renewed the 2010/2012 three-year USA production agreement with CBS (Rai Cinema rights for 2011-2013). The agreement aims to guarantee the validity of the offering of Rai programming with the supply of the TV series created for CBS, the American network which is most in line with Rai' s broadcasting aims in terms of quality and quantity. Also with CBS, the series Beverly Hills 90210 and Harper's Island, both broadcast by RaiDue during the year, were confirmed.

The relationship with Disney, which continues despite difficulties due to the incursions of the competition, led to the formalisation of a package made up of a selected product featuring two brand new films, Enchanted - Come d'incanto and Tinker Bell, fourteen short films produced by Pixar and an important selection of renewed films, including the timeless Pretty Woman and Mary Poppins.

The new series purchased from Disney included the brilliant detective series Castle, the romantic Cupid and the adventurous swashbuckling series for younger viewers, Legend of the Seeker, with returns by some of RaiDue's favourite names for the latest series of Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Private Practice, Army Wives, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

Rai Cinema has also maintained constant relations with other majors: several Hollywood classics came from Paramount (Operation Petticoat, The Mating Season, Roman Holiday, The Quiet Man and To Catch a Thief), a cycle of films with Jerry Lewis (thirteen titles), a cycle of Westerns (High Noon, Distant Drums, Shane and Rio Grande) and more recent evergreens (Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance, Terms of Endearment); from Warner come the continuations of two of its best and most long-running series, Cold Case and Without a Trace, both renewed for the seventh season, together with the sitcom Two and a Half Men; from Universal comes the eighth season of Law & Order.

Numerous European television productions have been guaranteed to Rai Cinema stores.

Once again, Germany is the main source. From Beta, with which the company has worked in partnership for decades, come twelve new episodes of the detective series Rex, which RaiUno will be broadcasting, as always, during prime time. Another long-standing partner of Rai Cinema, the public network ZDF, proposes about 240 hours of excellent quality television programming: the new episodes of the detective series Un caso per due, Squadra speciale Lipsia, Il commissario Kress and the brand new Soko Koln, the family series Il nostro amico Charlie and the collection of TV movies Wild Rose Valley.

Other European series come from the BBC, such as Survivors, the new episodes of Primeval and the collection of three TV movies Wallander, an Anglo- Swedish co-production starring Kenneth Branagh.

As regards film premiers acquired by Rai Cinema, these include the Oscarwinning Slumdog Millionaire, the Golden Lion-winning The Wrestler, the Golden Palm winner for the best screenplay Le Silence de Lorna, the winner of the Special Prize of the Venetian jury Cous Cous, the Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee for best foreign film Waltz with Bashir and Into the Wild.

The forecast development of the digital theme-specific offering is increasing the demand for films which, thanks to this platform can obtain prestigious exposure, with variety and extension which would otherwise be unavailable, without paying, to film lovers.

Classic films are an integral part of this design and occupied a significant part of Rai Cinema's activity for 2009: from Hollywood, we ought to highlight the important acquisition of the ITV Global library (about two hundred titles ranging from Alred Hitchcock to Laurence Olivier); among the Italian libraries, proposed by distributors such as Dania, Videa CDE, Istituto Luce and Lanterna, selected titles suited to programming in cycles, from detective titles to comedy, have been purchased.

Lastly, Rai Cinema pursued its consolidated procurement policy of the so-called "full rights", launched in 2001 and aimed at the acquisition of all the rights to exploit foreign titles in Italy for a relevant period of time. This method of acquisition allows the identification of "case-by-case" products and the formation of a valuable library with very long average license periods (12-15 years). This has allowed 01 Distribution to create composite lists, through which it has been possible to vehicle Italianproduced films in cinemas, flanking them with mostly American titles of different genres with a strong audience appeal. The titles purchased in 2009 included: The Ghost by Roman Polanski (which has just won the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival) and The Book of Eli by brothers Allen and Albert Hughes.

2009 was yet another year as leader for Rai Cinema branded films.

The prolific director Pupi Avati continued his excellent relationship with Italian audiences, returning to his beloved Bologna with the comedy Gli amici del bar Margherita, together with an excellent cast of famous names (Diego Abatantuono, Fabio De Luigi, Laura Chiatti, Luigi Lo Cascio, Neri Marcorè and Luisa Ranieri). Another outstanding cast, all-female this time (Margherita Buy, Paola Cortellesi, Carolina Crescentini, Isabella Ferrari, Marina Massironi, Claudia Pandolfi and Alba Rorhwacher), starred in the film by Enzo Monteleone Due partite, based on Cristina Comencini's successful play.

The season of events began with the invitation to the Cannes Film Festival of the fantastic film by one the Italian masters of film, Marco Bellocchio, who, with Vincere (the unknown story of the first wife and illegitimate son of Benito Mussolini, left to die in a mental asylum for political reasons) obtained unanimous and enthusiastic approval by the Italian and international critics. Francesca Comencini's film Lo spazio bianco, based on the novel of the same name by Valeria Parrella and starring a remarkably talented Margherita Buy, was presented in the competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film won the Pro Life award.

A mention of merit goes to the boxoffice winner (top place for the Italian list of 01 Distribution) Ex by Fausto Brizzi, which opened the sophisticated Italian comedy genre, without vulgarity but with lots of Italian flavour.

While the market in general registered a decline in the number of viewers for Italian products, it enjoyed an increase in the offering in terms of original proposals, films by new talents and more consolidated authors, genre films which reached the cinema circuit in much greater numbers than before in the past decade.

Also of importance is the situation regarding second works, such as Massimo Venier's comedy Generazione Mille Euro, Alza la testa by Alessandro Angelini, La straniera by Marco Turco and Fortapasc by Marco Risi, on the tragic death of journalist Giancarlo Siani, and L'uomo che verrà by Giorgio Diritti, which was extremely well received at the Rome Film Festival, where it won the Jury's Special Prize.

As regards films shot in 2009 and on release during the first half of 2010 Rai Cinema co-produced some of the most important names in the Italian film industry.

Ferzan Ozpetek, after an incursion into drama with Un giorno perfetto, returns to his favourite subjects, with the comedy Mine vaganti, set in the Salento region: another family-based story full of comic moments and personalities. The leading role is taken by Riccardo Scamarcio, flanked by Alessandro Preziosi. The film was very much appreciated at the Berlin Film Festival, participating outside the competition. Gabriele Salvatores, with Happy family, based on a theatrical comedy, directed a fabulous cast: Diego Abatantuono, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Margherita Buy, Fabio De Luigi and Carla Signoris, together again for a slick , brilliantly composed comedy characterised by irresistible humour. Daniele Luchetti directed a dramatic yet comic film, La nostra vita, presenting a light and clearly outlined story of a young man in difficulty, left alone to bring up his young children, saved by his tenacity and the unconditional support of his family.

The projects shared by Rai Cinema in 2009 on which shooting will begin in 2010 include Habemus Papam by Nanni Moretti, produced by Fandango, with Michel Piccoli in the role of the pope suffering an identity crisis and the director himself in that of the psychoanalyst who is supposed to help him.

Pupi Avati is currently working on his new creature, a heart wrenching love story entitled Una sconfinata giovinezza, with Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Francesca Neri. The film should be ready for the next Venice Film Festival.

The relationship between Rai Cinema and Rai Fiction � which in the past has produced titles such as La meglio gioventù and I Vicerè � continued, with the historical saga of Federico Barbarossa and Alberto da Giussano directed by Renzo Martinelli and with the great epic on the Italian Risorgimento directed by Mario Martone, Noi credevamo, inspired by the homonymous romance written by Anna Banti.

Special relevance was assumed by two projects realised in 2009: for Telethon and RaiUno, the short Il Turno by Filippo Soldi, the story of a war reporter who, at the age of forty, upon the death of his father, finds out that he is affected by the same genetic illness; in the year of the sixtieth anniversary of the declaration of human rights, the collective film entitled All human rights for all, in which directors of the calibre of Vittorio De Seta, Wilma Labate, Daniele Luchetti, Marina Spada, Giovanni Veronesi and Luciano Emmer, who has just recently died, together with numerous others, presented the individual articles of the Charter in their own personal way.

Lastly, the relationship with Teche for the production of documentaries led to the creation of Come mio padre by Stefano Mordini, at the Torino Film Festival, outside the competition, and to the development of a project on 1960 directed by the Oscar-winner Gabriele Salvatores.

The full rights ad production activity described allowed 01 Distribution to achieve sixth place in the special film distribution classification for the 2009 season.

The year was characterised by two completely different halves: in the first half, a series of brilliant results, particularly for Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D, Valkyrie and Ex, made it possible to occupy first place for almost six months; in the second however, the presence of various films with a difficult commercial outcome took 01 Distribution to sixth place overall.

From the beginning of the 2010 season it should be back towards the top of classification. The new films by Salvatores, Ozpetek and Luchetti, respectively Happy Family, Mine Vaganti and La nostra vita, together with three important international titles like The Book of Eli, The Ghost Writer by Roman Polansky and Edge of Darkness, all on release by the end of May 2010, promise excellent box-office results.

As regards the home video segment, this is still suffering, due to increasingly devastating levels of piracy which have reduced the rental market, which was previously a flourishing channel, by 50%.

Rai Cinema product on Rai networks:
- 17% of network programming throughout the day (4,446 hours)
- 29% of prime time programming (638 hours)
- 623 'pieces' (films, TV movies and series) with 385 prime time placements

Film:
- 156 prime time placements, of which:
- 40 on RaiUno (18.5% audience share)
- 36 on RaiDue (9.9% audience share)
- 80 on RaiTre (8.3% audience share)

TV movies:
- 9 evenings on RaiUno with an average share of 18%;
- 17 evenings on RaiDue with an average share of 10%.

Series:
- 203 evenings, mainly on RaiDue
- 9.4% average share for RaiDue
- 6.9% share for RaiTre