Russia's Film Fund Provides Cash for Italian Co-Production

MOSCOW -- Russia’s fund for support to the film industry, which administers the lion’s share of state film funding, will provide cash towards the €2 million ($2.7 million) Russian-Italian co-production Amori elementary (Elementary Love) to be directed by Sergio Basso.

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“Italy will be the majority co-producer, and we have three co-investors in that country, both private and public,” Ulyana Kovalyova, the film’s producer, told The Hollywood Reporter. She wouldn’t disclose the exact amount which the film fund is providing.

Kovalyova added that on the production side, the film will be similar to her earlier project, 2009’s Dieci inverni (Ten Winters), directed by Valerio Mieli, also a Russian-Italian co-production. The film will have both Russian and Italian characters, and the shooting is to take place in both countries and with a mixed Russian-Italian crew.

“The film’s main focus will be on the relations between school kids,” Kovalyova said.

Filming is scheduled to begin next spring, and the release of the movie is expected in the spring of 2013.

The fund for support to the film industry doesn’t have a separate section for co-productions, but any co-productions involving Russia as a majority or minority partner are eligible to apply. Amori elementary will be funded as a “socially important” project.