Andrea Occhipinti

Andrea Occhipinti (born 12 September 1957) is the founder of Lucky Red, Italy.

Andrea Occhipinti ©Fabio Lovino

Since 1987 he has distributed and produced among the best international independent films, successfully introducing Italian audiences to director’s from all over the world, many of whom are now considered “auteurs” - directors such as Paolo Sorrentino, Alejandro Amenabar, Lars Von Trier, Patrice Leconte, Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, Michel Ocelot, Park Chan Wook, Michael Haneke, Peter Mullan, Francois Ozon, Gurinder Chadha, Hayao Miyazaki, Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Jacques Perrin, Robert Altman, Frank Oz, Atom Egoyan, Thomas Vinteberg, Takeshi Kitano, Bryan Singer, Mario Martone, Paolo Genovese, Luca Miniero, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Denis Villeneuve, Abdellatif Kechiche, Pablo Larrain, Asghar Farahdi, Gabriele Mainetti and many others.

Since 1987 Andrea Occhipinti has distributed theatrically over 500 titles and produced over 50 films. This distinctive feature of Lucky Red’s distribution slates has helped the company build stable and long-lasting relationships with producers, directors and sales companies throughout the world, all of whom recognise the care Lucky Red invests into the promotion of each theatrical release, and its ability to maximize exploitation in every ancillary market.

Examples of such successes include Caro Diario, Much ado about Nothing, The Usual Suspects, Wedding Banquet, Shine, In & Out, Waking Ned Devine, Le Goût des Autres, The Others, The Magdalene Sisters, Bend it Like Beckham, Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran, March of the Penguins, Viva Zapatero, La Graine et le Mulet, Slumdog Millionaire, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, In the Mood for Love, Old Boy, Il Divo and This Must be the Place. More recent titles include: Joel & Ethan Coen’s Inside llewin Davis, Alexander’s Payne’s Nebraska, Stephen Frear’s Philomena, Abdellatif Kechiche’s La Vie d’Adele, Sofia Coppola’s Bling Ring, Derek Ciarfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids are All Right, Gabriele Mainetti’s They Call Me Jeeg, Julian Schnabel’s  At Eternity's Gate, Alessio Cremonini’s On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi.

The films distributed by Lucky Red have often been awarded in the main International film festivals: six times the Golden Lion in Venice (Vive L'Amour, Magdalene, The Return, Still Life, The Wrestler, A Pigeon Sitting on a Branch Reflects on Existence), twice the Golden Bear in Berlin (The Wedding Banquet, The Wedding of Tuya); three times the Golden Palm in Cannes (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, The White Ribbon, Life of Adele). Not to mention the many Academy awards: Slumdog Millionaire is undoubtedly the film that has won the most (eight), but there are many other titles that have won Hollywood’s prestigious prize: from Shine to Mar Adentro, from March of the Penguins to Secret in Their Eyes, and Ida, The Salesman, Moonlight.

From 2013 to 2018 Andrea Occhipinti served as President of the Distributor’s association of Anica in a key moment in time when the new Italian Cinema law was discussed and approved at the end of 2016. As President of Anica, he was also the initiator of the recent summer theatrical programming development.

In 2014, he received a DAVID DI DONATELLO Special Award for his commitment in theatrical distribution. In 2015 he has been awarded with the European Film Award for Best European Co-Producer and in 2019, Andrea won his second DAVID DI DONATELLO as Best Italian Producer (for On my Skin).

Since 2016 Lucky Red has intensified its production activity. Upcoming Italian productions include the Christmas comedy Io sono Babbo Natale, starring Gigi Proietti and Marco Giallini, and the eagerly awaited Freaks Out by Gabriele Mainetti, the acclaimed director of They Call Me Jeeg.

Lucky Red's productions also include TV series: after producing The Trial for Mediaset (now available worldwide on Netflix),  it is currently underway the filming of Christian, for Sky.

Lucky Red is the relative majority shareholder of Circuito Cinema, a prestigious chain of Italian art-house cinemas.

In 2015, in partnership up with Indigo Film, Lucky Red founded True Colours, that quickly became the leading international movie sales company in Italy.

Last year Lucky Red launched Miocinema, the first VOD platform in Italy with a direct involvement of film theatres. The project joins a transactional service, distributors and traditional theatres with a supplementary offer for the audience for specialized films.