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For the second consecutive year BNL–BNP Paribas Group is the main sponsor of the Rome Film Fest and will award the BNL- Film Fest Prize for Best Actress

For the second year running, BNL is the main partner of the Rome Film Fest, the international film festival created in 2006 and which has become the Italian focus for all those who love film.

As in 2006, BNL will award the 2007 prize for best actress. Luigi Abete, chairman of BNL, will present the “Marco Aurelio BNL Film Fest Prize” for Best Actress on 27 October during the closing ceremony. This prize reflects BNL's desire to pay homage to the cinema, and especially to film actresses.

To commemorate the second edition of the festival, BNL has issued a special version of its prepaid card “MyCash BNL” which carries the festival slogan “Cinema mon amour”. Two tickets for film screenings will be offered to all new cardholders, valid at the 2,000 Italian screens that make up the Hollywood Movie Money cinema network. During the festival, BNL will also be present at the Parco della Musica Auditorium, with an exhibition area highlighting the bank's products and services.

BNL and the cinema
BNL has provided the film industry with substantial financial support for over 70 years. This support covers movie conception, realisation, production and distribution. Unforgettable films are linked to the BNL name, including Roma città aperta with Anna Magnani, La Famiglia with Stefania Sandrelli and Fanny Ardant, and Non ti muovere with Claudia Gerini and Penelope Cruz. This unique background has enabled BNL to become the leading supporter of Italian film production, and BNL is indeed known today as the “bank for film”.

BNP Paribas – exclusive partner for national film events in cinemas
BNL'S activity in Rome is part of the overall special relationship that links the entire BNP Paribas Group to the world of film. The cinema also inspires the bank's advertising in three countries where it has the greatest number of retail-banking customers: France, Italy and Ukraine. In 2004, in order to promote and support film, BNP Paribas entered into a partnership with the French National Film Federation to create the “Rentrée du Cinéma” which enables the bank's customers and prospective clients to benefit from discounted cinema tickets.
In 2007 BNP Paribas decided to increase its commitment to the “Seventh Art” by becoming the exclusive partner for the three major film events organised during the year in French cinemas: Le Printemps du Cinéma, La Fête du Cinéma and the Rentrée du Cinéma. In 2007 BNP Paribas will have distributed 900,000 tickets to enable clients and prospects to attend film screenings on preferential terms, and prolong the operations of the French National Film Federation.

BNP Paribas – a partner for all kinds of film
In 2005, BNP Paribas became the official partner of Arthur and the Minimoys, the animated film by Luc Besson. The bank was associated with this project from the very start. BNP Paribas is also involved in other film initiatives: it is a partner of the “Directors' Fortnight” of the Cannes Film Festival, and also contributes to the restoration of old films (Modern Times in 2003, The Kid in 2007). And in 2007 BNP Paribas supported the first edition of the “Cannes and the Suburbs” film festival, an initiative of Luc Besson and which is touring 10 towns in the Paris region.

Furthermore, BNP Paribas has contributed to financing independent French film for 20 years through its Audio-visual branch in Paris which works with producers and distributors to ensure finance for film pre-production, filming, and post-production. The bank also offers customers SOFICA funds which invest in the film and television industry and which also offer tax advantages. This year SOFICINEMA 4 aims to support distributors in the financing of independent French films.