New chief at Roma

Ben Ammar will oversee Italy's 'Dinocitta'

By CECILIA ZECCHINELLI

MILAN -- Tarak Ben Ammar, film producer and adviser to media moguls Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch, on Tuesday was appointed chairman of the board of Italy's Roma Studios.

Paris-based Ben Ammar has a 50.1% stake in Roma Studios through Promotion e Partecipatio Intl.

The remaining shares are held by Seven Ventures Holding, owned by Mauro Enrico, Evelyn and Valentina Parretti and Raimondo Lagostena's Compagnie Europeenne de Cinema et de Television.

Lagostena and Mauro Enrico Parretti are managing directors of Roma's board. Mark Lombardo, Evelyn Parretti, Alex Palermo and Carlo Scarchilli are board directors.

Staging a rivalry

The Roma soundstages on the outskirts of Rome, which rank among the largest in Europe, were established by Dino De Laurentiis in the 1960s to compete with state-owned Cinecitta.

Dubbed Dinocitta, the studios have been partially operative since June 2001, after having been abandoned for 10 years.

At Cannes in May, Ben Ammar announced he was planning to use Roma Studios for 20 international productions, including Brian De Palma's next film, "The Toyer." He co-produced De Palma's "Femme Fatale."