EUROPE
Screen Daily
22 October, 2012 | By Andreas Wiseman
EXCLUSIVE: Italian distributor Feltrinelli takes aim with LFF-winning documentary about paedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church and plans live debates with clergy.
When Italian national newspaper La Repubblica reviewed Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney’s LFF-winning documentary about paedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church, the paper’s critic wrote: “It is difficult to imagine the film will find a theatrical distributor in Italy, and it is even less likely to find one for TV.”
Step forward Italian outfit Feltrinelli, which has taken the bold step of picking up all Italian rights from sales outfit Content Media. The film is believed to be the first on the subject to get a theatrical release in the country.
According to Feltrinelli’s head of documentary distribution Anastasia Plazzotta, the company plans to release the film in spring 2013 in around 30 cities – including Verona, the location of the Church-run Antonio Provolo Institute, which is featured in Gibney’s film and where a number of deaf students have alleged sexual abuse – with live debates after the screenings between clergy, intellectuals and Gibney, schedule permitting.
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