Sky Italia’s Vision Distribution to Launch Film Sales Company at Berlin’s EFM (EXCLUSIVE)

By Nick Vivarelli

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Vision Distribution, the Italian theatrical distributor jointly operated by pay-TV operator Sky Italia and five prominent Italian production companies, is expanding into international film sales with a new company called International, to be headed by veteran sales agent Catia Rossi.

The new sales company will launch at the Berlin fest’s European Film Market in February.

Vision Distribution was set up in 2016 when Sky joined forces with ITV-owned Cattleya, Fremantle’s Wildside, Lucisano Media Group, Palomar, and Indiana Production which are among the country’s leading production outfits, to create an innovative content alliance and a theatrical distribution arm for the Italian unit of the pan-European paybox now owned by Comcast.

They are now Italy’s 4th largest domestic distributor, and the 8th overall, with 26 titles released in 2019, four of which among the top ten grossers at the Italian box office last year. Vision Distribution has a service agreement with Universal which handles physical distribution of their titles in Italian cinemas, while they handle the marketing.

Rossi is among Italy’s best known, and best connected, sales agent operating on the international circuit. After a long sting as sales exec for pubcaster RAI’s film product, she launched True Colours, the sales company co-founded in 2015 by Italian indies Lucky Red and Indigo Film, which has flourished under her leadership.

By directly handling international sales of Italian films “Vision Distribution can now ensure complete, integrated control along the entire value chain for the films we distribute,” the company’s COO, Massimiliano Orfei, said in a statement. He added the the new company will open up avenues for new production models and for Italian films made with an eye for both domestic and international play.

Vision Distribution in November announced it was backing its first English-language movie, an Ireland-set chiller working-titled “Shadows,” starring Saskia Reeves (“Luther”) and young British talents Mia Threapleton (“A Little Chaos”) and Lola Petticrew (“A Bump Along the Way”).

Vision Distribution International’s Berlin lineup will be announced closer to the start of the market.