ROME (Reuters) – A Disney TV crime series will return to its original name after an Italian court annulled a decision that had forced the show to adopt a new title, the global entertainment giant said on Tuesday.
“Avetrana – This is not Hollywood” is an Italian-language, fictionalised account of the 2010 murder of a 15-year-old girl by her family members and of the media frenzy that surrounded the case.
Before its launch in October, the mayor of Avetrana, the small town in southern Italy where the crime occurred, took legal action against the four-part series on the grounds its name gave the municipality a bad name.
A court in Taranto accepted the mayor’s appeal, provisionally blocking the show’s release. It then went on air after Disney, acting as distributor, and producers Groenlandia agreed to shorten the name to “This is not Hollywood”.
With the full title restored, including the word Avetrana, “the series finally reclaims one of its founding elements”, director Pippo Mezzapesa said. “The title could not ignore the name of the town where the events took place,” he added.
Last year, film and TV industry representatives criticised the court decision to halt the series, with the head of the Italian producers’ association APA Chiara Sbarigia calling it “a serious violation of the principle of freedom of expression”.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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