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Nastri d’Argento Awards – DOC, Luca Argentero and Maria Chiara Giannetta among the winners

 

Luca Argentero and Maria Chiara Giannetta together with Jan Michelini at the award ceremony of the Nastri D’Argento Awards at the Court Theater of the Royal Palace in Naples.

 

Rome, May 30rd 2022

12 series among the most significant and ambitious of the year nominated for the award for Best Series 2022 and 16 in all for the most followed genres, to have won the attention of the audience in the last seasons.
The Film Journalists voted for the titles that stood out for have transformed the style and content of storytelling as well as the audiovisual market and the traditional television audience with a new way of ‘making cinema’.

 

BEST ‘DRAMEDY’ SERIES

DOC – Nelle tue mani (Rai Fiction)
A production by Lux Vide and Rai Fiction, produced by Matilde and Luca Bernabei

Director of the first season and executive producer of the series Jan Maria Michelini
Directed Beniamino Catena, Giacomo Martelli
Screenplay Francesco Arlanch, Viola Rispoli

 

BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Maria Chiara Giannetta with “Blanca”

BEST LEAD ACTOR
Luca Argentero with “Doc – Nelle tue mani”

 

Our CEO, Luca Bernabei, about the Awards:

“I welcomed with great joy the news of the awards of the Nastri D’Argento to “Doc” as Best Dramedy Series, to Luca Argentero as Best Leading Actor and Maria Chiara Giannetta as Best Leading Actress.

I believe that the prize to “Doc” it is the recognition of a work that has been able to tell the greatest pandemic of the century in an engaging way, offering the international public a prospect of hope.

I thank my sister Matilde and Rai Fiction, who shared this bet with me, and the whole team behind the series: the head writers, Francesco Arlanch and Viola Rispoli; the Lux Vide Script’s department, over all Elena Bucaccio, Sabina Marabini and Edoardo Gino; the directors Beniamino Catena and Giacomo Martelli; Jan Michelini, who gave the project his creative imprint; all production and post-production departments; the whole wonderful cast.

The prize to Luca and Maria Chiara are a well-deserved tribute to two extraordinary artists and exemplary professionals. With his charm and charisma, Luca was able to give shape a true contemporary leader, wounded and fallible, who doesn’t give up: thanks to this unique performance during all the episodes, we were able to credibly celebrate the heroism of doctors and the value of teamwork. With her talent and her enthralling vitality, Maria Chiara animated a character who shows how differences and disabilities can be experienced not as a limit, but as what makes us unique and original.

It was an honor to me helped bring these series and these characters to life, and I am thrilled that today they receive such a prestigious award from a jury as demanding as the Film Journalists one.”

 

Read the full news on Nastri D’Argento site →

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Fremantle Acquires Lux Vide

Fremantle Acquires Lux Vide 

Italy’s Leading Independent Production Company

 

ROME | LONDON, 3rd March 2022 – Fremantle, one the world’s largest and most successful creators, producers, and distributors of premium content, has acquired 70 percent of Lux Vide, Italy’s leading independent television production company.

Launched in 1992, Lux Vide has established itself as one of Italy’s most prestigious and successful high-quality producers, with over 1,300 hours of prime-time original scripted content viewed in 144 countries worldwide.

Over three decades, Lux Vide has rapidly grown to become a prolific production, and development powerhouse, creating distinctive premium scripted content, and delivering consistent commercial success both domestically and internationally, with deals including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sky. Lux Vide owns five state-of-the-art studios, based outside Rome, making it the only independent Italian television production studio with over 6,000 m2 of set space.

The acquisition of Lux Vide forms part of Fremantle’s wider international growth strategy to invest in premium production companies, content creators, and talent from around the world – developing and securing original formats and unmissable IP.

Lux Vide became the first Italian company to win an Emmy Award with the film Joseph from The Bible Collection and Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for its co-production Coco Chanel. Acclaimed international successes include hit series: Medici starring Dustin Hoffman, Richard Madden and Sean Bean (Netflix); Leonardo starring Aidan Turner and Matilda De Angelis (Amazon Prime); and Devils the high-stakes financial thriller starring Patrick Dempsey and Alessandro Borghi (Sky).

Hit original scripted series produced by Lux Vide include: The Bible Collection – sold in 144 countries; Don Matteo – now in its thirteenth season; DOC – the medical drama becoming RAI’s highest rate series in 15 years; Buongiorno, mamma! – Mediaset’s most watched series in the last 3 years. Other hit series include: One Step from Heaven (Un passo dal cielo); Back To The Island (L’Isola di Pietro); Sister Angela’s Girls (Che Dio ci aiuti), and the recent ratings success of Blanca winner of the ‘DQ Drama Award 2021’ for most innovative TV series.

Under the deal, the Bernabei family will retain the remaining 30 percent. Luca Bernabei will continue as CEO of Lux Vide, the company founded in 1992 by Ettore and Matilde Bernabei. The acquisition was spearheaded by Andrea Scrosati, Fremantle Group COO and CEO Continental. Scrosati will assume the role of Chairman of Lux Vide, while Matilde Bernabei will become Honorary Chairman and also serve on the Management Board.

Luca Bernabei, Lux Vide CEO said: “The Lux Vide collaboration with Fremantle confirms our long-term global strategy and international vision.  We are excited to now be joining forces and partnering with Andrea Scrosati, who we have built a much valued and trusted relationship over many years, and the incredibly talented Fremantle team. The synergies between the two companies are clear to see and everyone within the Lux Vide team are looking forward to embracing this new partnership and the many opportunities it represents to us all. The Bernabei family will remain at the helm of the company proudly founded by my father Ettore, as shareholders, as managers, but above all as reference points for our creativity, editorial line, and our incredible production team. A team that has achieved consistent successes over three decades and is now committed and firmly focused on the future and building the exciting next chapter as part of an even larger family at Fremantle.”

Andrea Scrosati, Group COO, CEO Continental Europe said: “Fremantle is a business based on unique talent, creative ideas, and a capacity to brilliantly deliver, working with the right partners across the world. We are proud and honoured that the incredible talent at Lux Vide have chosen to be part of our family. To share with us their professionalism, their ideas, and their vision. I have no doubt that together we will deliver many extraordinary shows to a global stage, continuing to make the Fremantle slate even stronger. This deal underlines Fremantle’s strategic plan to invest and grow in the scripted arena, a strategy that enabled the company to deliver 81 scripted shows across the world in 2021. A special thanks to Luca, Matilde and Roberto Bernabei, for choosing to share with us their passion and the company their father created 30 years ago”.

Lux Vide is the latest acquisition for Fremantle and its growing global drama business. Previous investments include acquiring the 12 former Nent Studios production labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark (now rebranded This is Nice Group); Australian-American television production company Eureka Productions (Parental Guidance, Finding Magic Mike); Italian-based Wildside and The Apartment (My Brilliant Friend, The New Pope, The Hand of God); UK-based Naked Entertainment (Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, Planet Sex); Scandi label Miso Film (The Rain); French label Kwai (The Last Wave) and Israeli creative powerhouse Abot Hameiri (Shtisel) as well as a minority stake in the UK labels Dancing Ledge Productions (The Salisbury Poisonings, The Responder) and Wild Blue Media (Arctic Drift).

Last August, RTL Group announced its aim to increase Fremantle’s full-year revenue target to €3 billion by 2025. The acquisition of Lux Vide forms part of Fremantle’s wider growth strategy to invest in production companies, content and talent around the world to source the best creative ideas, develop and create strong and unmissable IP.

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THE FIRST IMAGES OF THE TV SERIES “BLANCA” AT 78. VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

It was at the 78. Venice International Film Festival, the TV series Blanca, a Lux Vide production in collaboration with Rai Fiction, directed by Jan Maria Michelini and written by:  Francesco Arlanch,  Mario Ruggeri, Luisa Cotta Ramosino, Lea Tafuri. Blanca is played by Maria Chiara Giannetta, with  Giuseppe Zeno  and  Pierpaolo Spollon  and will air in autumn in prime time on Rai 1.

At the center of the series is Blanca, a young woman who became blind as a child. The loss of her older sister, at the hands of an abusive boyfriend, makes her develop a very strong sense of justice, to the point of pushing her to enter the police. His specialty is decodage,i.e. analytical listening to all audio materials of investigations, such as interceptions and interrogations. But Blanca, although she finds herself working in an environment where her disability is experienced as an obstacle, does not let herself be confined to an office and manages to demonstrate her value and her abilities. Alongside the work challenges she then finds herself having to face the sentimental ones: contention between two men, Inspector Liguori, a colleague with many secrets, and Nanni, a young unconventional cook, must decide to whom to give his heart and his trust. To help her in these adventures her most trusted friends: the guide dog Linnaeus, a female bulldog who protects and comforts her in the most difficult moments and her friend Stella, a beautician with a very exuberant character.

Lux vide had realized the first production in the world using the holophony, a special sound recording technique that allows it to be reproduced in a similar way to how it is perceived by the auditory apparatus of man.

The series has benefited from a special artistic advice of Maestro Andrea Bocelli.

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Barbara Pavone new Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Lux Vide

Lux Vide, the leading international audiovisual production company in the entertainment market, announces the appointment of Barbara Pavone as Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of the group.

After a long managerial career spanning more than 25 years in leading entertainment and consumer goods companies, from her most recent stint at Warner Media to her experience at Unilever, Bolton Group and British American Tobacco, Barbara Pavone joins Lux Vide to lead the marketing and sales team of the largest company in the Italian scripted market.

Barbara Pavone’s international experience brings her back to the world of production and media, fully reflecting Lux Vide’s culture of solid tradition, openness to innovation, Italian creativity and international vision. As Senior Vice President Group Marketing in Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, Barbara Pavone has collected in recent years excellent results in the creation and guidance of integrated and cross-divisional marketing and digital transformation.

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A NEW INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE: LUX VIDE IS DEVELOPING THE RISING

Lux Vide is pleased to announce a new ambitious international project: THE RISING, a three-season drama series about the human and secular story of Jesus Christ.

In collaboration with Stephen J. Davis, ex-Hasbro Chief Content Officer, the production will have Daniel Knauf (Blacklist and Carnivale) as showrunner and executive producer and Jan Michelini (Medici, Doc, Diavoli) as director. The composer of the score will be Carlos Rafael Rivera, best known for having signed the soundtrack of hit series The Queen’s Gambit, and an Emmy winner with Netflix’s Godless.

Conceived as a 3-season series, the series will have a decidedly contemporary and international approach, capable of conquering even teenagers and non-believers.

A story that, after more than 2000 years, never ceases to interest an audience of more than 2 billion people in the world.

The creative team will shortly begin pitching potential U.S. partners and the writers room will open in Los Angeles in the coming months.

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LUX VIDE APPOINTS VALERIO FIORESPINO AS CCO

Valerio Fiorespino is the Chief Corporate Officer of Lux Vide.

High-profile executive with excellent industry experience, he graduated in Law and started his professional career in RAI in 1988 at the Personnel Department and then moved on to industrial relations and press staff management.

Between 1998 and 2000 he is responsible for Personnel and Management of Key Resources, until he becomes Director of Human Resources.

In 2006, he is appointed Vice Director of TV Resources and then becoming in 2011 Director, when the management of tenders, business acquisitions and RAI fiction contracts are added to the previous responsibilities.

In 2013 he held the position of Director of Human Resources and Organization at RAI, a position he holds until 2016 when he moves to ISTAT as Head of the Data Collection, Methodologies, ICT and Communications.

In 2019 he was Chief Corporate Officer of Sparkle, the global operator of the TIM Group, the first supplier of international wholesale services in Italy and among the top ten in the world.

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LUX VIDE TO PRODUCE A SANDOKAN TV SERIES

Lux Vide announces a new international production set to start in 2021, Sandokan.

 

From an idea of the producer Luca Bernabei, inspired by the popular eleven adventure novels by Italian author Emilio Salgari, Sandokan chronicles the story of the legendary 19th century pirate and his band, the Tigers of Mompracem, fighting against the colonial power of the Dutch and British empires in South East Asia.

 

The show will star the Turkish star Can Yaman (Daydream, Bitter Sweet) GQ’s man of the year in 2019 as Sandokan and Luca Argentero (DOC, Eat Pray Love) and his loyal friend and fellow pirate Yanez.

 

The show written by Alessandro Sermoneta (Devils) and Davide Lantieri (The Guest) will be a fresh and modern take to the world of Salgari, with a strong female point of view from the brave heroines such as Lady Marianna, whose casting is yet to be announced.

 

The production, currently in development, is set to start principal photography in 2021 between Lux Vide proprietary studios in Rome and exotic international locations.

 

The first season produced by Luca Bernabei, with the potential to be the start of a recurring format, will consist of eight episodes and has already caught the attention of the major European broadcasters and platforms.

 

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LUX VIDE LAUNCHES NEW PODCAST DIVISION & UNVEILS DEBUTS PROJECTS INCLUDING “ALLEGHE” 

 

ROME – 22nd December 2020 – Lux Vide has today announced the creation of a new podcast label with a slate of projects already under development, as part of a new partnership agreement with RTL, one of Italy’s leading radio networks.

 

COVID-19 has led to an increased surge in podcast consumption in Italy, a country where the market was already growing steadily prior to the pandemic. According to Nielsen, in 2020 podcast consumption was up by 15%, adding 1,8m more listeners compared with the previous year. IPSOS reports that by now 30% of Italians listen to at least one podcast each month, an audience of 8.5 million regular listeners.

 

Starting from January, Lux Vide will offer best in class original productions by deploying its world-class creative talents

Including showrunners Elena Bucaccio, Francesco Arlanch, Mario Ruggeri and Umberto Gnoli, respectively authors of hit shows “Devils”, “DOC” and “Don Matteo”, among the voices already confirmed including Luca Argentero (DOC) and Alessandro Preziosi (Medici).

 

The scripted and factual slate incubated under Lux Vide’s iconic production division will embrace all narrative genres, from faith, to family, including crime podcast “Alleghe” inspired by the true story behind the Alleghe mysteries, a series of murders that took place between 1933 and 1946 near the lake of the same name in the Veneto region. The podcast will be written by Elena Bucaccio and Carlo Lucarelli is in talks to be the narrating voice.

 

Other projects under the Lux Vide banner include “Bible Women”, an adaptation from Lux Vide’s Emmy award-winning TV movie series, told entirely from a female perspective, “Mythical Stories” a modern family twist of classic myths and legends narrated by prolific writer, theatre director and actor Giovanni Scifoni (DOC) and ‘“Against all odds”, a series dedicated to real stories of exceptional men and women.

 

As one Europe’s leading independent production companies behind hit international dramas, including Medici, Devils and upcoming Leonardo, Lux Vide operates its own large scale integrated production studio, where it has complete control of the production process, from creative to post-production, with an agile structure capable of immediately adapting to audio productions.

 

 

Luca Bernabei, CEO Lux Vide, commented: “This partnership between the largest television production company and the largest Italian radio is born from my personal esteem for Lorenzo Suraci, whose intelligence, entrepreneurial ability and talent in seizing new opportunities I admire. This is just the beginning of one of many future collaborations between our two companies for the launch of innovative initiatives based on mutual esteem, on the desire to dream, to always be at the forefront”

 

Lorenzo Suraci CEO RTL “A partnership between two market leaders, such as RTL1025 and LuxVide, will have exciting perspectives. Our goal, shared with Luca Bernabei, is to create and innovate a brand-new cross-platform product, both online and on air. Our audience will have access to a wider selection of new top-quality productions, that will strengthen the new ways of listening and enjoying online content.

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Goodbye Sara

Dear Sara,

In the end, you gave in too. You left Lux Vide for a better place.

Many had tried to take you away from us, media owners, producers. Everyone wanted the Queen of TV series.

But you always said no. Not for money nor for career opportunities.

You stayed for Love. Love for that project that was of Ettore Bernabei and that now is Luca and Matilde’s.

You stayed to tell stories that warmed the heart, to bring to life characters that could be like good friends to the audience. You stayed to make people dream. And also to call us late at night to set us straight.

You lived a thousand lives, because in every dame, every soldier, in every priest on a bike or financial trader there was a piece of you. You chose lights, hairstyles, lines. You edited pages of scripts and cut minutes of movies. To see the light on in your office sent us home serene.

We had the best, the unique piece, the talent that is born once in a generation.

And yet, you left us.

In the end, you accepted the offer of the Only One to whom you could not say no.

Ciao Sara, our hearts break for how much we miss you.

Please keep the light on up there.

We will look at it and will go home serene, knowing that you are there.

Have a good journey,

Luca and Paola, Matilde, Stefano, Daniele, Corrado, Manuela, Marco, Luisa, Sabina, Cecilia, Elena, Francesco, Mario, Umberto, Silvia, Chiara, Jan, all of the editorial team, the Lux Vide’s administration, production, post-production, marketing and sales, Anna, Daniela and Fausto.

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