The film’s creator, Iginio Straffi, will receive a special award at the eight-year-old event.
Gladiators of Rome 3D, the big-budget animated adventure story from Iginio Straffi, had its U.S. premiere Sunday on the opening night of the Los Angeles-Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, while Straffi himself has been honored with the festival’s new Italia Excellence Award.[…]
Straffi is the founder of Rainbow, the successful Italian animation house located in the Italian region of The Marches, far from the traditional Italian cinema and television power centers in Rome and Milan. Rainbow’s flagship franchise Winx Club — highly successful in Europe but showing in the U.S. only since last year — will also screen at the Los Angeles-Italia Fest, on Wednesday.
Straffi told The Hollywood Reporter he was eager for Gladiators of Rome to screen in the U.S. market, in order to show the quality of animated features coming out of Italy.
“Top quality animation is not the exclusive property of Pixar and Dreamworks and Fox,” said Straffi[…]
Pascal Vicedomini, the eight-year-old festival’s founder, called Straffi “a visionary” and said he is “a perfect example of how contemporary Italian artists combine creativity with entrepreneurial skill.”
Gladiators of Rome, whose $45 million price tag makes it one of the most expensive Italian films ever made, opened in its home market last October, where it has been a box-office success. It has screened in about half a dozen other territories since then.
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