Italy’s PiperFilm and France’s Playtime are joining forces to establish a new sales company dedicated to Italian movies called Piperplay that is launching from the Venice Film Festival.
The innovative outfit, which has the makings of a powerful driver for cinema Italiano, will be handling product from the start of its cycle — in other words, from development, packaging and financing, all the way through to production, festival strategy, theatrical release and world sales.
PiperFilm and Playtime are both at Venice with a roster of top-notch Italian movies, including Paolo Sorrentino’s festival opener “La Grazia” and Pietro Marcello’s “Duse” — on which Piper has Italian theatrical distribution — while Playtime is handling international sales on Andrea Di Stefano’s “My Tennis Maestro.”
Piperplay will be jointly led by PiperFilm’s sales chief Catia Rossi and Playtime Group CEO and founder François Yon. It will bring together Rossi’s expertise in launching Italian titles on the global market “and the commercial and curatorial intelligence of Playtime’s international infrastructure,” as a joint statement put it.
To bolster the new venture, seasoned sales executive Giulia Casavecchia is coming on board as Piperplay’s head of international sales. Casavecchia previously served as sales chief at Rome-based sales company True Colours.
“It is a great honor for me to be leading Piperplay with Francois,” said Rossi in the statement. She went on to add that Piperplay will not just be a new sales company but stands for “a new way” of conceiving sales. “Gathering people, experiences, professional skills and blending Italian and French passion for cinema can represent a great innovation for the market. I am excited to be part of this,” Rossi noted.
“Playtime has always been very close to Italian cinema and to Italian filmmakers,” said Yon. “This new alliance with PiperFilm allows us to pursue our ambition to bring Italian creative talents to international audiences.”
Commented PiperFilm CEO Massimiliano Orfei: “I am very happy about this smart move from PiperFilm and Playtime, bringing the idea of collaboration between sister companies to a higher level.”
The move follows pan-European indie group Vuelta‘s acquisition of a minority stake in PiperFilm in March. Playtime, which is Vuelta’s international sales unit, also comprises France’s Films Boutique, Brussels-based Be for Films and U.K.-Germany’s Global Constellation.
Jerome Levy, the former Canal+ and Goldman Sachs executive who is Vuelta Media’s chairman, commented: “This partnership between two of Vuelta’s entities marks a powerful step in its mission to be the home where Europe’s brightest talents can grow on the International stage.”
In Italy, Vuelta owns prominent production company Indiana Production, which is behind Netflix’s lavish period series “The Leopard.” Outside Italy, Vuelta owns France’s Pan, SquareOne/Telepool in Germany, WW Entertainment in Benelux and Scanbox Entertainment in Scandinavia, among other outfits.
Pictured above, (left to right): François Yon, Giulia Casavecchia, Catia Rossi
variety.com
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