Fandango (Italian company)

History

Domenico Procacci founded Fandango in 1989, taking the company’s name from the 1985 Kevin Costner film of the same title. The company’s first production was Sergio Rubini’s film The Station in 1990, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and won both the David di Donatello and the Nastro d’Argento for Best New Director. In 1992, Fandango co-produced its first international project, Rolf de Heer’s Bad Boy Bubby, a collaboration that eventually led to the establishment of an Australian branch of the company in 2002. In 1998, Fandango backed two debut films: Radiofreccia by Luciano Ligabue and Ecco fatto by Gabriele Muccino.

The distribution arm Fandango Distribuzione launched in 2000, with its first release being Johnny the Partisan, directed by Guido Chiesa, a film Fandango also produced. The following year, the company founded Radio Fandango, a record label originally created to release film soundtracks; it evolved into a full-fledged label in 2005. Late in 2002, Fandango established Laboratorio Fandango, a free film school offering courses in directing and production, capped at twelve students. Procacci acquired the historic Politecnico cineclub in Rome’s Flaminio district in 2001. In 2006, he opened Caffè Fandango, a bookshop and meeting space that also served as a promotional hub. The animated logo that appears at the start of Fandango’s films was designed by Gianluigi Toccafondo.

Fandango entered publishing in 1998 with Fandango Libri, which releases comics, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays. The publishing house underwent a structural revamp in 2005 and features both established authors like Andrea Pazienza and newer voices such as Maurizio de Giovanni. In 2009, Fandango bought Coconino Press, a comics publisher founded by Igort and known for translating international comics. In February 2011, it acquired the publisher Alet, based in Padua and focused on reprinting classic texts, along with Alet’s subsidiary Beccogiallo. That same May, Fandango purchased Playground, a fiction-only publisher founded by Andrea Bergamini, who continued as editorial director in partnership with Procacci; Playground is known for its High School series and children’s fiction.