Overview

• Nicola Borrelli stepped down on July 3 as general director of cinema after pressure over the misallocation of nearly €864,000 for an unproduced film.
• The department granted and paid out the credit in November 2023 for “Stelle della Notte,” a project that never materialized.
• Charles Francis Kaufmann, who used the aliases Rexal Ford and Matteo Capozzi, was arrested last month in Skiathos on suspicion of killing a woman and her infant daughter and is awaiting extradition to Italy.
• Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli led police in seizing film department documents last week to support the ongoing criminal investigation.
• The government is enacting tighter checks and oversight mechanisms to safeguard future incentives and prevent similar abuses.