In the Tuscan village of Pitigliano, recipes are not just about food; they are stories. This is the idea behind Dinner Club, a Prime Video series in which chef Carlo Cracco and a cast of Italian celebrities travel across Italy in search of regional flavors and the people behind them.
When the cameras arrived in Pitigliano, few people expected its streets and rustic kitchens to capture the attention of viewers everywhere. “Dinner Club has been an extraordinary showcase for Pitigliano and the whole Tuscan Maremma,” said Giovanni Gentili, Mayor of Pitigliano. “We even received calls from Brussels after the episode aired, confirming how much this format is appreciated abroad.”
Supporting local creators and original productions
Every European story that reaches a global audience is made possible by a network of creators, craftspeople, small businesses and production partners. Prime Video is investing in this creative community across Europe and around the world with more than 500 original audiovisual titles, generating skilled jobs and boosting local economies. For instance, The Rig, which was filmed in Scotland, employed a crew that was more than 80% local. This helped bring Scottish talent back home and stimulate new investment in production infrastructure.
Prime Video collaborates with some of Europe’s most respected studios, including Gaumont, Banijay, UFA, Constantin Film, Cattleya and Mediapro, to ensure that local creative communities remain at the heart of their stories.
“When we invest in local productions, we aren’t just producing content, we are creating opportunities,” said María Contreras, Head of Movies & Scripted TV for Spain at Amazon MGM Studios.
This content is hosted by a third party (www.youtube.com).
To view the content, you need to consent to cookies by selecting Accept all in the popup banner. Or you can go to the site footer, select Cookie Preferences, and then select On under Functional Cookies, Performance Cookies and Advertising Cookies.
From local stories to global success
Streaming has removed traditional borders, enabling culturally specific narratives to be enjoyed by viewers in hundreds of countries simultaneously. In fact, some of Prime Video’s most successful international releases started as local productions.
Take Maxton Hall, for instance. The German young-adult romance film was based on Mona Kasten’s bestselling novel Save Me, and it became Prime Video’s most successful International Original launch to date, reaching #1 in more than 120 countries. Or how, in Spain, Culpa Tuya achieved unprecedented global traction, with 90% of its audience coming from outside the country.
As Sabine Henssler from the Motion Picture Association noted, “When creators stay true to their cultural roots, audiences everywhere can feel that honesty.”
Celebrating cultural diversity through storytelling
Beyond entertainment, audiovisual productions can also play a key role in preserving and promoting Europe’s cultural heritage. Prime Video supports cultural diversity by delivering content in over 250 languages.
“Every local production we support strengthens an entire creative community,” said Conor Sweeney, Director of International Policy and Press Communications at Amazon. “That’s why we’ve partnered with more than 2,000 creative companies globally. When you back local talent, the cultural and economic ripple effects are enormous.”
Brussels video pop-up: A pivotal moment for Europe’s audiovisual landscape
This is a pivotal moment for the evolution of Europe’s audiovisual sector. The European Commission recently released the Culture Compass for Europe, a forward-looking framework designed to strengthen cultural participation and support creators. At the same time, recent data from the European Audiovisual Observatory shows that demand for European films and series continues to grow, underscoring the importance of sustained investment, innovation and cultural diversity across the sector.
Against this backdrop, Amazon recently hosted an intimate pop-up event in Brussels, bringing together policymakers, creators and industry leaders to explore how European stories can thrive globally in this evolving landscape.
The evening concluded with a live cooking demonstration by chef Domenico Pichini, who recreated an iconic dish—gnudi—that he he shared on Dinner Club, offering guests a real taste of the culinary traditions they had seen on screen.
