Italian film industry rocked by ‘fantasy film’ linked to American director sought in double murder

A police officer walks past a sealed-off area where forensic police work at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

ROME — The head of the Italian Culture Ministry’s film department resigned Thursday following revelations that an American film director accused in a double homicide had secured nearly US$1 million in tax credits from the ministry for a film he never made.

The Culture Ministry announced the resignation of Nicola Borrelli in a brief statement overnight, thanking him for his service.

It didn’t provide a reason. But the scandal over the “fantasy film” tax credits erupted soon after Greek authorities on the island of Skiathos arrested the California-born Francis Kaufman last month on a European arrest warrant issued by Italy.

Italian prosecutors have accused Kaufman in the deaths of an infant girl and her mother, whose bodies were found naked in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park on June 7. Kaufman, who was using the alias Rexal Ford, is currently awaiting extradition to Italy. State-run RAI television has said that he told Italian prosecutors via video call that he was innocent, but declined to answer further questions without a lawyer.

The Culture Ministry has confirmed that Kaufman, using the alias Ford and his Tintangel Films LLC company, had obtained the tax credit for a film, “Stelle della Notte” (Stars of the Night), that was never made. The confirmation came in a statement last week in which the ministry confirmed it had handed over to prosecutors all the documentation it had in connection with the film, a co-production with an Italian firm Coevolutions Srl.

Italian media have published ministry documentation showing that “Stelle della Notte” had obtained 836,439.08 euros in tax credits in 2023. Such tax credits are a regular part of the financial incentives Italy gives to filmmakers to produce and distribute films in the country.

On Wednesday, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli told lawmakers that the ministry was co-operating fully with prosecutors, noting that he had personally accompanied the police when they arrived at the ministry June 27 to seize the material. In an appearance in the Senate chamber, Giuli acknowledged a long-standing problem in the ministry of financing and tax credits for projects that never get made. “No more fantasy films,” he vowed.

The resignation of Borrelli was the second earthquake this week in the Italian film industry, following the resignation over the weekend of the head of the storied Cinecitta film studio, Chiara Sbarigia.

Sbarigia said in a statement that she was stepping down to concentrate on her other job as president of Italy’s audio-visual producers association. Italian media and lawmakers had blasted her dual jobs as a conflict of interest, a claim that she and Giuli have denied.

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press