Mediawan Closes Deal For Majority Stake In Lorenzo Mieli & Mario Gianani’s OUR Films
Mediawan has made it official that their majority stake in Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani’s OUR Films has closed as the Venice Film Festival gets underway. News of both parties’ union began to emerge out of Cannes.
The investment is in line with Mediawan’s strategy of creating a Pan-European studio, home to more than 80 production companies. The Paris-based studio made a majority investment in Brad Pitt’s Plan B back in December 2022 with four of that shingle’s projects premiering on the Lido: Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the Apple Jon Watts directed Pitt-George Clooney comedy noir Wolfs, and documentaries One to One: John & Yoko, directed by Kevin Macdonald, and Apocalypse in the Tropics directed by Petra Costa.
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Mieli and Gianani departed as CEOs of their respective Fremantle labels, Wildside and The Apartment, in January, and launched their Rome, Italy-based OUR Films earlier this year. The duo have established a reputation for making high-class fare including films, documentaries, TV series and more for global audiences. Additionally, they’re known for their deep relationships with content creators and talent, coupled with their sharp independent financing sensibilities in accessing soft money and forging co-productions.
Elisabeth d’Arvieu, CEO of Mediawan Pictures, tells Deadline that the partnership with OUR Films is one that’s a “common DNA in terms of taste, ambition, strategy and vision.”
Gianani called the new teaming with Mediawan an “Evolution.”
“We needed a partner that was capable of adapting itself to the marketplace. It’s not easy for big companies to adapt themselves to the ever-changing market conditions,” he added.
OUR Films will unveil their full slate in the near future.
Mediawan and OUR Films share similar visions: Investing, nurturing and owning content development early on, while being able to pivot in a disrupted marketplace ruled by analytics. Mediawan’s presence now spans 13 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux, and the UK in Europe, alongside operations in Africa, Asia, and the US. Of the projects that Mediawan has been involved with are Call My Agent, Three Body Problem, Bob Marley: One Love, Miraculous Ladybug, Rhythm and Flow France, The Agency, The Count of Montecristo, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, HIP/High Potential, and One Day.
“We could not be more excited to reunite under our new OUR Films banner and join forces with the brilliant and passionate Mediawan team,” exclaimed Mieli and Gianani, jointly. “Together, we are building a new creative hub to support the world’s best filmmakers in telling bold and courageous stories that elevate our lives and the artform through shared cinematic excellence. This is the goal for OUR Films.”
The duo added, “’OUR’ symbolizes our partnership with artists, as we stand alongside them to champion their vision and projects from the very beginning to the distribution stage. Through our efforts and financial resources, we commit to protecting and sharing with our creatives the control, empowerment, and freedom necessary to uphold the integrity of their art. This is the mission of OUR Films.”
At present both Mediawan and Mieli and Gianani come armed to the fall film festivals with a multitude of projects.
In addition to the Plan B feature projects at Venice, Mediawan has And their children after them (in Official Competition) directed by Zoran and Ludovic Boukherma and produced by CHI FOU MI.
At the 2024 Venice Film Festival, Mieli will present three projects produced through his former Fremantle-owned The Apartment Pictures: Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, based on the book by William Burroughs, starring Daniel Craig; Pablo Larrain’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie; and Joe Wright’s eight-episode limited series M, about the life of Mussolini.
“We are delighted to welcome Lorenzo and Mario, two of the industry’s most accomplished producers of internationally acclaimed films and series, who inspire us with their taste and modern creative edge. Through OUR Films, we are reinforcing our ambition to bring together the greatest talent behind the best content worldwide,” said Pierre-Antoine Capton, Co-founder and CEO of The Mediawan Group, and Elisabeth d’Arvieu, CEO of Mediawan Pictures, jointly.
Of the projects Mieli, former CEO of Fremantle Italia, has made under The Apartment Pictures are the Oscar nominated The Hand of God (Silver Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival), Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All (Silver Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival), Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla (Coppa Volpi award for Cailee Spaeny at the 2023 Venice Film Festival) and Paolo Sorrentino’s latest Parthenope (in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival) which is getting a stateside release via A24.
Gianani’s feature canon includes La mafia uccide solo d’estate directed by Pif (European Film Awards for Best Comedy in 2014), The Eight Mountains directed by Felix Von Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch (Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, 4 David di Donatello and 2 Silver Ribbons), the Italian box office smash There Is Still Tomorrow directed by Paola Cortellesi (19 nominations at the David di Donatello Awards in 2024) and Kirill Serebrennikov’s Limonov: The Ballad (official competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival), in co-production with Chapter 2 (Mediawan).
Together, Gianani and Mieli have made such global productions as the HBO Sorrentino series The Young Pope and The New Pope, Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are for HBO, and HBO’s My Brilliant Friend, directed by Saverio Costanzo and adapted from the best-selling novels written by Elena Ferrante; that series about to premiere its final season.
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