Greater Venice area attracts filmmakers

Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto offer enticing incentives

By NICK VIVARELLI

SEE FOOD: The Venice Film Commission and the Veneto region are both backers of 'Dieci inverni' (Ten Winters) from first-time helmer Valerio Mieli.

ROME -- Venice and its environs conjure, for many film buffs, the venerable Venice Film Festival and movies shot in and around the picturesque lagoon city -- from Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" to Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You."

But, taking its cue from the Lido, the surrounding area for quite a while now has been growing into one of Italy's true unsung film industry hotspots.

Just 24 miles away from Venice is the 28-year-old Pordenone Silent Film Festival, which every October draws film buffs from around the world to this celluloid celebration of the pre-talkies era. And not far from Pordenone is Udine and its Far East Fest, which in recent years has attained top-flight international standing for its focus on Asian films. Udine wrapped its 11th edition in May.

Both events are located in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, to the northeast of Venice. 

But besides fostering fests, Friuli Venezia Giulia is also becoming a magnet for top Italo film productions, thanks to its attractive incentives, efficient workforce and atmospheric locations, which are not just of the pretty postcard type. 

Friuli, whose capital city is Trieste, has set up one of Italy's most innovative regional film funds. Among other incentives, it offers up to E140,000 ($202,000) in cash to projects that shoot 70% of exteriors there. Giuseppe Tornatore shot his 2006 thriller "The Unknown Woman" in Trieste, a windswept port city dear to James Joyce. Last year, helmer Gabriele Salvatores shot his father-and-son drama "As God Commands" in a post-industrial wasteland of dry riverbeds, dams, caves, abandoned factories and suburban strip malls, specially scouted for him by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission folks.

Meanwhile, the Veneto region, of which Venice is capital, has also become more active in production lately. In a rare move for Italy, the Venice Film Commission and the Veneto region are both direct backers of first-time Italo helmer Valerio Mieli's coming-of-age meller "Dieci inverni" (10 Winters), which chronicles a 10-year romance in Venice. "Winters" unspools in the Venice fest's Controcampo Italiano section dedicated to new trends in Italian cinema.