The director of the Italian Cinecittà studios resigns after failing to reach an agreement with the Meloni Government | Culture

The executive director of Cinecittà Studios, Nicola Maccanico, responsible for the major renovation of what is the largest studio in Europe, has submitted his resignation after completing his first three years in office. Maccanico had just completed his first three-year term at the head of Roman studies and his mandate expired around this time, although according to local media, his renewal seemed certain. But, as newspapers such as The RepublicMatteo Salvini’s League, one of the parties in the far-right government coalition, intervened in the extension of the contract of the director, who has a long and successful career in the audiovisual world.

Maccanico was appointed by a center-left government in 2021, when the state-owned Roman studios embarked on a mission to seize a multimillion-dollar budget provided by European Union post-pandemic recovery funds.

Officially his resignation has been voluntary, and comes at the end of his initial three-year mandate, but the media suggests that the director wanted to remain at the helm to complete the second phase of the study reform, but the lack of support from Part of the politics led him to take a step back. “I have had three intense and super positive years and now I am ready to think about the future,” Maccanico has limited himself to saying, who has also mentioned “new personal and professional horizons”, without specifying more.

The coalition government has apparently failed to reach an agreement on the director’s confirmation. The Republic points out that the prime minister’s far-right party, Brothers of Italy, did not raise doubts about Maccanico. On the other hand, the League, also on the extreme right, did so, with the intention that the position be left in the hands of a person he trusted, instead of a personality inherited from the previous Government. According to the information in the local press, Matteo Salvini’s party would have the intention of entering into the management of the Roman studies, which were created by the dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 and which after a resounding decline that almost led them to the disappearance, they are now beginning a new life and have returned to operating at full capacity thanks to a series of large public aid and the entry of platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Video.

The Italian Executive controls 100% of the company and must completely renew the board of directors. The Ministry of Culture elects three councilors and the general director, while the Ministry of Economy appoints the other two remaining councilors and the president, who also has to have the approval of the Minister of Culture.

The opposition has warned that it will closely follow the Government’s movements. The spokesperson for the parliamentary group of the center-left Democratic Party in the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Irene Manzi, has raised an alarm: “We are concerned and we will closely follow the evolution and the way in which the Government will choose the “new direction of one of the most important cultural companies in our country.” And she has charged against the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, whom she has asked “to put aside the cronyism and partisan options that have marked his work until now.”

The former CEO of Cinecittà said goodbye to the institution through a letter in which he took stock of these years of management. “Cinecittà is not only one of the best-known brands in our country and a physical space that represents the highest and international concept of Italian creativity. Together we have managed to demonstrate that it can also be a strong and competitive company, capable of generating profits by attracting large Italian and international productions,” Maccanico wrote. And he added: “Our country can be as competitive today as it was in its brightest past. We are not only destined to celebrate what we represent in an era that no longer exists: the future can be built in Italy.”

He also listed the successes of his management in a letter addressed to the Board of Directors: “The figures for the three-year period are the most reliable confirmation of this transformation. We have reached 100 million in industrial turnover, of which 43 million in the Art and Scenography Department, we have closed the last two years in profits, placing the Ebit above 2.5 million, and we have hosted more than 50 large productions . And we return to the shareholder a company with a net worth that increases the initial share capital by 1.2 million.”

Born in Rome in 1972, Maccanico is a renowned director in the audiovisual world. He was director of European affairs and executive vice president of programming at Sky Italia, he has worked at Warner Bross as marketing director and general theatrical director and was also CEO of the film production and distribution company Distribution, born from an agreement between the Sky Italia group with five independent Italian production companies.

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