ITALIAN FILMS SOON TO BE DUBBED IN HINDI AND POLISH

Claudio Sorrentino, president of the 'Masters of the Cinema 'Foundation and Culture Minister, Rocco Buttiglione


ITALIAN FILMS SOON TO BE DUBBED IN HINDI AND POLISH(AGI) -
Rome, 28 Mar 2006
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200603281748-1188-RT1-CRO-0-NF30&page=0&id=agionline-eng.bnessitaly
Italy is to 'export' its experience in dubbing and is to focus on promoting its cinema worldwide.
An agreement signed with India and Poland will in fact mean that some of the most successful Italian films will be dubbed in Hindi and Polish in order that they be better understood and therefore 'appreciated' by foreign audiences.

The project was explained today by the Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione and Claudio Sorrentino, president of the 'Masters of the Cinema 'Foundation, dedicated to the training of professionals in the sector. Some of the best Indian and Polish actors will shortly be arriving in our country where, with the assistance of Italian tutors, they will learn, in a month, our dubbing techniques. "

Italians are seen as the best in this field - Sorrentino explained during a press conference to mark the event - we don't simply do dubbing, but proper Italian versions of foreign films, and we'd like the same thing to be done for our films abroad". Included in the films to be 'exported' could be next season's titles including, Medusa's managing director confirmed, "La Sconosciuta" by Giuseppe Tornatore, "Viaggio Segreto" by Roberto Ando' and Carlo Vanzina's film out at Christmas as well as "Manuale d'amore" a comedy that met with success in 2005 that, Sorrentino announced, had already been proposed by De Laurentis. The cost of versions made for audiences abroad (around 50 thousand euro per film) will be out up by the individual production houses while the tutors will be provided by the aforementioned Foundation.

"This project - said Minister Buttiglione - is part of a wider strategy for our cinema. In the future we must focus on building a European market for this sector: we Italians have great potential in the cinema profession and we must make the most of it, so much so that we attract the foreign market.

Dubbing requires passion and meaning: it is a means of taking our films abroad, as it has done for the American cinema in coming to Italy". The foundation of cinema professionals, that featured at the most recent Venice Festival, is to start work in September: "we'll be dealing with all professionals in the cinema world - Sorrentino explained - from the director, the sound engineer. The producer right up to the electricians and the camera operators - special skills or expectations on the part of young people wanting to take part will not be necessary".
(AGI) . 281748 MAR 06
COPYRIGHTS 2002-2006 AGI S.p.A.

Study shows strong demand for Maltese-dubbed films

Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech

Study shows strong demand for Maltese-dubbed films
http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=217919

The quality of children's and sports programmes on TV stations needs to be improved, according to an audience survey, which also found that 66 per cent of respondents would rather watch foreign programmes dubbed in Maltese and 67 per cent would like more foreign programmes.

No local TV stations was considered to be the best for the genres of children's programmes and sports. In the case of children's programmes, an overwhelming 855 respondents out of the sample of 1,050 said no local TV stations could be considered the best while 752 said none of them could be considered the best for sports.With regard to good quality, children's programmes in Maltese and reality shows ranked lowest in the list of preferences, registering 19 per cent and 28 per cent respectively of the whole sample.

The independent survey, commissioned by the Tourism and Culture Ministry, under whose umbrella the audio-visual sector falls, was carried out by Ernst & Young.
It was aimed at finding out audience perceptions of local TV productions and the best stations for different local productions, among other things.The findings showed that TVM was the station most watched every day of the week, except for Monday, when Net TV took over, probably due to the Maltese series Santa Monika. TVM peaked strongly on Friday because of the programme Xarabank.

Indeed, the most watched TV programme was Xarabank, with an estimated viewership of 119,000. It was followed by Bondì+ and Tista' Tkun Int, with an estimated 106,000 viewers, and Showtime with 104,000. In the case of news bulletins, TVM also came first with an estimated 92,000 viewers, followed by Net News (65,000) and One News (50,000).
Xarabank also topped the list of high quality programmes (31 per cent of respondents), followed by Tista' Tkun Int (20 per cent) and Santa Monika (15 per cent).But as many as 17 per cent of respondents were unable to name a single programme of quality and 10 per cent were unable to mention two.

As for the dubbing of films into Maltese, the category of the semi-skilled and unskilled worker, or those dependent on social benefits, had the largest percentage (81 per cent) of those making this request.

Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that, where this was technically possible, dubbing could be done, for example in the case of documentaries. But the technology to dub a movie, synchronising the words with the lip movement, was not available.

The audience survey also delved into radio listeners per day, with results showing that over half the respondents, did not listen to any station. Of those who did, Super One had the most listeners (91 out of the 1,050 sample), followed by Calypso/101.8 and Radju Malta. With regard to cinema, the survey showed that the majority of respondents (64 per cent) last frequented the cinema over two years ago, and that more women than men watched movies at cinemas.

It was on the basis of this study that the directives for PBS Ltd on how the funds of the extended public service obligation (EPSO) should be spent on different programme genres during the October 2006 to June 2007 schedule were drafted, Dr Zammit Dimech said.
The EPSO covers those genres that are not commercially viable and include children, current affairs, drama and culture programmes, to name a few. They are eligible to an allocation of Lm500,000. The directives would be forwarded to PBS Ltd in the coming days, he continued, adding that the dialogue with independent producers would continue, while focus groups were analysing the findings.

Dr Zammit Dimech said the independent producers played an important role in the building of Malta's audio-visual industry.

SARFT responds to public criticism of "Geisha movie"

Memoirs of Geisha

SARFT responds to public criticism of "Geisha movie"
By Zhang Kun
http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2006/0117/ci4-3.htm

The Hollywood movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" will not be premiered in China on February 19, as originally planned, the China Film Company has said.

The dubbing of the movie has been stopped at the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio. The China Film Company confirmed that the movie will not be shown in Chinese mainland cinemas in the near future.The movie, from director Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), stars three top Chinese actresses (Michelle Yeoh is Malaysian, but her movie career has mainly been in Chinese Hong Kong).

Strong criticism from the Chinese public accompanied the making of the movie, ever since Steven Spielberg first became interested in making it, with Maggie Cheung playing the heroine.
People have criticized Zhang Ziyi for taking the role of a Japanese prostitute. A comment on Eastday.com reads: "I was injured in the 'War of Resistance against Japan' and I won't go to see a movie like that."

Columbia Pictures, the distributor of the movie, was aware of the sensitivity of the subject. A formal copy was sent to China in advance to be played to officials from the SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television). According to the Shanghai Youth Daily, the movie passed the SARFT inspection, and Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio started to work on the translation. Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi both agreed to dub their own roles in the Chinese version. But then the translated script was sent to SARFT for further inspection, and this time failed to receive a notice of approval.

"You say it passed the inspection, where is the proof?" said Gu Min, a staff member of the Shanghai United Circuit, the largest film distributor in town. "A movie receives a licence if it passes the inspection, but so far, we haven't seen the licence for this movie," he explained.According to the Shanghai Youth Daily, the largest obstacle to the movie's release in China is that the government is afraid that the film content may outrage the audience. SARFT has been receiving letters from the public almost every day protesting against the movie's release in the Chinese mainland.

Ironically, pirate copies of the movie have been available in the local market since early January. Viewers left a variety of messages on the Internet: "The rhythm is too slow. Several women had a lengthy conversation at the beginning, made me sleepy." "Bad plot and characters, didn't carry out the cultural connotation of the 'Geisha'."Gong, a star in the movie, won higher applause from local audiences for her performance than the heroine, Zhang."The movie has received lots of public attention. It would be a shame if it can't be shown," said a staff member from the United Circuit.