In 1992 Ettore Bernabei, former CEO of Italian pubcaster RAI, and a group of Italian entrepreneurs started Lux Vide with the clear objective to produce high-quality television programs, characterized by strong family and cultural values, to promote a positive message, avoid offensive and violent content and suitable for the widest audiences.

To date, Lux Vide has produced over 400 hours of high-quality TV programming for prime-time television, orienting its production choices towards the international market and involving high-profile partners in Europe and in the United States.

The company immediately achieved world renown for its “The Bible” series, consisting of 21 primetime nights, one of the largest TV series ever produced, sold in over 140 countries and coproduced with all major public and commercial broadcasters in the US and Europe (TNT and CBS in the US, BskyB in England, France2 in France, Antena3 in Spain, RAI UNO and Mediaset in Italy, ZDF in Germany). Some the world’s best known actors and actresses have performed in the BIBLE.

Over 24,000,000 viewers in the United States alone watched “Jesus” one of the miniseries of the BIBLE collection. JESUS was nominated for Best Mini-series at the Emmy Awards, while “Joseph” with Ben Kingsley won an Primetime Emmy for Best Mini-series and a Cable Ace for the Best Soundtrack for a TV program.

Starting in the year 2000, LUXVIDE greenlit the “IMPERIUM” collection: 6 miniseries about the most significant figures and events of Imperial Rome, shot on location in Tunisia, where the company invested in a permanent “Roman” set. The miniseries of IMPERIUM include Augustus, with Peter O’ Toole and Charlotte Rampling, Peter with Omar Shariff and Augustine with Franco Nero.

Simulateously LUX VIDE also greenlit The XX Century collection - primetime miniseries about the most important personalities and events of the XX century: the first one, “Pope John”, broadcast by Rai Uno in April 2002, reached a record high TV rating (52%). “Mother Teresa”, the third in the collection, gained first position in the most viewed TV programs in Italy in the fall of 2003. Other projects of the series include “Soraya” (the life of the Iranian princess who was repudiated by the Shah of Persia), co-produced with France 2 and the German network ZDF (2003) and, in coproduction with France 2, “Callas Onassis”, the tragic love story between Greek tycoon, Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas the greatest opera singer. In 2005 “John Paul II”, starring Jon
Voight (nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor), was a huge success. The miniseries was co-produced with RAI UNO, the CBS network and the Polish public network TVP.

In 2007, “War and Peace” (4x100’) , based on Russian author Lev Tolstoy’s classic, and directed by Robert Dornhelm, involved broadcasters from seven countries in the co-production (Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Italy) with 40,000,000 viewers across Europe. One of the partners, the Russian Canal Rossia network is the largest and most influential Russian broadcaster- they had never co-produced a TV series internationally before. Shooting went on for 5 months, between Lithuania ( for the massive battles scenes of Austerlitz and Borodino) and St. Petersburg in Russia, where for the
first time, the Imperial Palace was opened for a Television production.

More recently, LUX VIDE joined with Lifetime Networks in the US, France 2 and RAI UNO to co-produce COCO CHANEL directed by Christian Duguay, with Shirley MacLaine and Malcolm MacDowell. Coco Chanel was one of the most viewed programs for Lifetime, France 2 and RAI UNO.

Later this spring, PINOCCHIO starring Bob Hoskins and Thomas Sangster will be aired across Europe. PINOCCHIO is a coproduction between POWER in the UK, LUXVIDE and RAI UNO.

Finally, LUXVIDE is a leader in the production of domestic TV long running series and miniseries (DON MATTEO and LOVE IN ACTION) with an average of 30% share.