LUCELABCINECITTÀ is a new training and refresher project for workers, managers, students, and aspiring audiovisual industry professionals launched by Cinecittà and Archivio Luce. The initiative takes place in collaboration with many prestigious partnerships, first and foremost the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, but also Maxxi Foundation, ASC – the Italian Association of Set Designers, Costume Designers and Decorators – BeRight, and Rainbow CGI. The project is part of the Resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Component C agenda and includes vocational courses, advanced training programs, and intensive programs to be implemented between 2022 and 2026, aiming at developing and implementing a national strategy for wide-ranging training in the audiovisual fields.

The workshops include activities on trades, arts, technical-artistic workers; enhancement and conservation of historical, film, and photographic archives; preservation and documentation of video art; video and audio post-production, virtual production; film and digital restoration; courses for television writers, communication and marketing managers, tax, legal and regulation experts. It is a thorough and articulated approach dedicated to all sectors of the audiovisual industry, aimed, on the one hand, at shaping new professionals and, on the other, at meeting the need for a generational turnover while fulfilling the growing demand in audiovisual production, with an eye on new professions that the development of the digital agenda strongly requires. Challenges do not relate to cinema and TV alone but to the industry’s market in general.

The project was presented at a press conference by the president of Cinecittà Chiara Sbarigia, “I am very happy to announce the birth of LUCELABCINECITTÀ, with the first courses in co-branding starting tomorrow in collaboration with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia to be held at the Casa del Cinema. I particularly want to underline the presence of both companies that make up the industry I preside over, Cinecittà and Archivio Luce, not only because they represent the history of cinema and the national audiovisual sector but also because they reflect the variety of professions and trades that we have a duty to protect, pass on, and update for a rapidly changing working market. While Cinecittà’s Soundstages are inevitably linked to the city of Rome, for the training projects, I am working on creating institutional collaborations and expanding the training offer of LUCELABCINECITTÀ throughout the territory Italian”.

The Undersecretary for Culture Lucia Borgonzoni, held back by government commitments at the presentation, sent a message, “The project launched today, to be implemented by 2026, is the realization of one of the measures financed through the PNRR of the Ministry of Culture – Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual, which awarded Cinecittà and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia with 8.6 million euros to develop and carry out a national audiovisual training strategy in the business/managerial, creative/artistic, and technical workers sectors. This training offer meets the challenge of satisfying the audiovisual sector demands, a sector that has been undergoing sturdy growth and transformation, also due to the progress of today’s new technologies. The plan involves the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Cinecittà, Istituto Luce, and other partners that are here today and provides for the expansion of training activities, such as Masters, workshops, specialist courses for top managers, and technical, creative, and managerial figures, as well as television authors. From the most traditional jobs to virtual production, from the enhancement of the historical archives to the preservation and restoration of video art, but also post-production, communication, and marketing: with this venture, the Ministry of Culture and the partners involved will make Italy and its young professionals the protagonists of the global film industry transformation.”

ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES
One of the main demands in the training field revealed by a survey is the growing search on behalf of companies for highly specialized managerial figures capable of operating at an international level. Intensive advanced training workshops are scheduled for young graduates and professionals who want to update or refine their skills. The first courses, starting on December 15th, are two editions of Next Generation Lawyer in collaboration with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and BeRight, and aim at offering training in the audiovisual sector, particularly in the fields of legislation, taxation, and audiovisual regulation starting from the big changes that have been taking place in the industry and the growing complexity in the management of contracts and the administration matters by using a brand-new format.

TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
Eight professional workshops will soon be launched in collaboration with ASC – the Italian Association of Set Designers, Costume Designers and Set Decorators – with a highly sensible and practical approach in order to prepare young artisans for important traditional trades and to prepare new technical-artistic workers in order to satisfy the growing production volume of the Studios, and of the domestic audiovisual and entertainment market. In 2023: Carpentry workshop; Painting and decoration workshop; Make-up and hair workshop; Tailoring and costume cutting workshop. In 2024: Metal carpentry workshop; Dyeing, aging, costume elaboration workshop; Tools and props workshop; Plastic laboratory workshop.

MASTER IN VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
This specialized course is meant for the professional training of those who work in virtual production for films, TV series, and commercials and is designed to keep up with the most recent progress in the entertainment industry. In collaboration with Rainbow CGI, this educational offer consists of two editions of the same Master for a total of 30 students. The start of the courses is set for 2023 and lasts approximately 8 months for 510 hours of training. An intensive laboratory will side the theoretical part of the course, in order to put the theory acquired into practice. The Master aims to train the following figures in the field of virtual production: Ad artists, Background artists, Motion capture technicians, Unreal specialists, Unreal technical artists, Ledwall in-camera background artists, Media producers.

ENHANCEMENT OF THE HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
Another fundamental element of knowledge – the historical footage, film, and photographic archives – is a core starting point for preserving a country’s identity and planning its future. To be activated in 2024, this training project aims at combining diverse fields of knowledge to enhance the value of culture, starting from traditional disciplines. During the courses, digital tools, techniques, and technologies for archive management are to be explored. The laboratories are born under the wing of Humanities Computing (or Digital Humanities) – a field of study, research, and teaching that stems from the union of human and informatics technology – and includes the research, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge through computer media.

CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
The laboratories of the Archivio Storico Luce, one of the most prestigious audiovisual archival heritages in Europe, are accessible to the courses, allowing students to explore a theoretical-methodological approach and to work with highly professional operators in the fields of conservation, protection, restoration, and digitization of films and audiovisuals. The courses aim to train professionals in the preservation of film and audiovisual heritage and are meant to create the following professional figures: Audiovisual archivists, Documentalist researchers, Shooting and editing of audiovisual materials, Content Managers for online communication, Content managers, Curators, Social Media Managers, Marketing and Rights Managers, Business Developers, Film technicians, Scanner Operators, Sound Technicians.

SPECIALIST COURSE IN CONSERVATION AND VIDEO ART DOCUMENTATION
ln a time characterized by relentless and rapid technological progress, a work of art expressed through a video medium can quickly become obsolete. These obsolescence processes have accelerated sharply in recent decades in digital matrix works, making the need for an integrated conservational approach increasingly urgent. The objectives of this course, which takes place in partnership with the MAXXI Museum, are to update professionals and train neo-professionals on conservation, restoration, documentation, archiving, and data management in analogic and digital works.

>> click here for more information and for the first calls available (in Italian)