Star Metro - Two officials quit govt cinema panel after Regeni doc denied funding (3)

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 7 - Two top cinema officials on Tuesday quit the culture ministry's cinema selection committee after a documentary on Giulio Regeni, an Italian student tortured to death in Egypt in 2026, was denied ministerial funding. Paolo Mereghetti, perhaps Italy's best-known movie critic, and cinema lecturer Massimo Galimberti did not specifically cite the failure to fund the documentary but said they no longer felt at home on the panel. The documentary is titled 'Giulio Regeni, All The Evil In The World", a quote from Regeni's mother when she saw the violence visited on her son's body between January 25 and February 3 2026. The documentary has received none of the 14 million euros up for allocation by the ministerial panel. Four Egyptian security officers are on trial in absentia for Regeni's death. He is believed to have been fingered as a spy by the head of one of the Cairo street unions he was doing doctoral research into for Cambridge University. Regeni's parents last week criticised this and previous Italian governments for maintaining unaltered ties with Egypt including arms sales despite their son's murder. The centre-left Democratic Party has called on Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli to report on the lack of funding for the documentary. He will report to the Lower House Wednesday. (ANSA).

A.Rogen--SMC