Sony Pictures International Producing First Italian Film ‘A Family Christmas’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSony Pictures International Productions is venturing into local-language movies in Italy with the comedy “Un Natale in Famiglia” (“A Family Christmas”), which is currently shooting in Rome.Alessandro Usai and Iginio Straffi of Colorado Film, which is owned by Straffi’s Rainbow Group, serve as producers on the film, which is the first of a three-picture deal between SPIP and Colorado.Directed by Italian commercial comedies helmer Giovanni Bognetti (“When Mom is Away”), Sony’s first foray into Italian movies stars Christian De Sica and Angela Finocchiaro, who are both local box office draws.De Sica, who is the son of late great neorealist director Vittorio De Sica, is among Italy’s most popular stars.

He’s had leading roles in some of the country’s highest grossing Christmas movies, such as “Vacanze di Natale” and “Christmas in Love,” both produced by Aurelio De Laurentiis.

De Laurentiis, after churning out these lucrative Italian films for years, has stopped making them after becoming more involved in managing his SSC Napoli Calcio soccer team, leaving a gap in the Italian market that Sony now seems eager to fill.Angela Finocchiaro is an Italian A-list actor who has starred in some of Italy’s biggest recent box office hits, such as “Welcome to the South,” the Italian remake of French mega-hit “Welcome to the Sticks.”In “A Family Christmas,” De Sica and Finocchiaro play Carlo and Anna, middle-aged parents of a close-knit family living in the Italian provinces.

Their grown kids move to the big city. Once away, they limit their family ties to a few brief phone calls, refusing to attend funerals, birthdays, or even spend Christmas in their former home.