PRODUCER TALK

PRODUCER TALK PRODUCER Andrea Occhipinti

“Cinemas will not only survive, they will thrive”

Interview with Andrea Occhipinti

Interview

ALESSANDRA DE LUCA

The challenge? Creating a digital on-demand

platform dedicated to quality cinema, not as an alternative to theaters, but complementary to them. A point of reference for an audience of cinema lovers, designed to reaffirm the social and cultural role of film in Italy. It was with this objective in mind that Andrea Occhipinti, managing director of Lucky Red, a company that produces and distributes arthouse titles in Italy and elsewhere, founded MioCinema. On May 18, 2020, the platform connected the public, movie theaters and the digital universe for the first time with the premiere launch of Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, a Cannes 2019 competition film. After registering for free on the site, users can choose their local cinema of reference (from 150 participating cinemas) and buy the individual film directly. A percentage of the proceeds is allocated to the cinema. Occhipinti, among the speakers on the panel entitled “Epic Battle or Sweet Romance? How cinema and streaming can coexist and prosper,” was one of the key participants in IDM’s tenth INCONTRI Film Conference, which was held online. He outlined the profile of his innovative project, which came into being just when the world of cinema was threatened by the pandemic. Is it possible for a streaming platform to restore the dialogue between spectators and cinemas that was interrupted by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 crisis?

ANDREA OCCHIPINTI Absolutely. Our purpose is not to ferry audiences away from cinemas to the platform, but to bring them back into the theaters. During the months of closure, we offered spectators the chance to see great films through a digital platform. It was created to enhance the offering of quality cinema, to keep the public informed, to put them in touch with directors, actors and critics, to present films in their original language, as well as retrospectives and reviews, exclusive events and masterclasses, and to support those titles that have limited chances of success in physical cinemas, where they are destined to disappear after just a few days.

Which were the most-watched films? AO Les Misérables by Ladj Ly, Bad Tales by the D’Innocenzo Brothers and Matthias & Maxime by Xavier Dolan, followed by Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding, Francesco Bruni’s Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, Philippa Lowthorpe’s

PRODUCER TALK PRODUCER Andrea Occhipinti

Lucky Red “Our platform advertises the films shown at the participating cinemas and the cinemas advertise the platform.” Producer and distributor Andrea Occhipinti has established an arthouse streaming platform.

ANDREA OCCHIPINTI is the founder and president of Lucky Red, a film production and distribution company founded in 1987. Via Lucky Red, Occhipinti has brought internationally renowned filmmakers to Italy and distributed the works of some of the most important contemporary directors, from Paolo Sorrentino to Wes Anderson. Starting in 2016, Lucky Red ramped up its production activity, bringing successful films to cinema and winning, in 2019, the David di Donatello as Best Producer for On My Skin. In partnership with Indigo Film, Lucky Red founded the international distribution company True Colours. In 2020, Occhipinti conceived the digital platform MioCinema.

PRODUCER TALK PRODUCER Andrea Occhipinti

Micro Film/Silviu Ghetie

Berlinale winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (top) and documentary The Dissident on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi are both available for streaming by arthouse fans.

Lucky Red

Misbehaviour, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s The Specials, Christian Petzold’s Undine and Pablo Larraín’s Ema. Other films that did well more recently were The Dissident directed by Oscar winner Bryan Fogel and financed by the Human Rights Foundation, the story of the murder of the Saudi journalist of the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi; and Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Romanian director Radu Jude, which won the last Berlinale. Overall, this list clearly shows that cinema lovers also use streaming platforms and simply watch a wide range of films in different ways – one does not preclude the other. Our service advertises the films shown at the participating cinemas and the cinemas, in turn, advertise the platform. We’ve therefore created what we set out to do: a network for arthouse fans. Audience preferences also highlight the appreciation for film previews. AO In fact, since last February we have been proposing monthly exclusive titles: “originals” available only on MioCinema, films and documentaries from major international festivals, such as Listen by Portuguese director Ana Rocha de Sousa, which won the Leone del Futuro and the Orizzonti Jury Prize at the 77th Venice Film Festival, and Apples, the directorial debut of Greek director Christos Nikou, who opened the Orizzonti section at the same year’s festival. The discovery of new auteurs and thematic relevance are the main criteria for selection.

MioCinema also offers a space for documentaries. AO A new collaboration with ZaLab, a cultural laboratory that has been active for some time in the production and distribution of free, independent and social cinema, is testimony to the importance of documentaries for our platform. With this partnership, we want to enhance the value of a film genre that has always been an area of experimentation and growth, and which rightfully forms part of a platform dedicated to auteur cinema.

How many users does MioCinema have? AO We achieve a peak number of visitors, up to 50,000, when we offer live events with directors and actors. Our numbers are of course not comparable to those of the big streaming services, but it’s interesting to note that when we offer a strong arthouse title like The Dissident the results are really good.

The new landscape created by the lengthy closure of cinemas calls for greater flexibility on the part of the players in the audiovisual industry. AO More than ever, it is necessary today to optimize the distribution of films through more flexibility. Each film has its own path, its own history and its own potential. Some titles have little chance of emerging in an increasingly crowded market but may have a decisive chance on online platforms; others distributed in theaters could benefit from a preliminary release on the platforms and vice versa. Over the past year, distributors have been concerned about the shortening of the windows separating a film’s theatrical release from its subsequent exploitation, but it is necessary to distinguish between those films that have the possibility of remaining in theaters for several weeks – maybe sixty titles, all in all – and those that do not. I am firmly convinced that socializing is a primary and unavoidable need of human beings and we have been sorely lacking in social life over the last year and a half. Going to the cinema is a truly social