We Believed, Benvenuti al sud lead David di Donatello nominations

by Vittoria Scarpa

07/04/2011 - It was in a climate of widespread optimism towards Italian cinema (the domestic market share is roughly 40%) that the nominees were announced today for the 55th edition of the country’s top film awards, the David di Donatello.

"Our film industry is alive,” assured Gian Luigi Rondi, president of the Academy of Italian Film. "Proof lies in the fact that the jury [of 1,684 members] picked 27 films among the list of nominees".

In a year teeming with celebrations for 150 years of Italian unity, We Believed [trailer, film focus] picked up the most nominations. Mario Martone’s feature film on the Risorgimento, which debuted at Venice 2010, has 13 nods, including Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Cinematography.

It is followed, with 10 nominations, by Luca Miniero’s Benvenuti al Sud [trailer], a huge domestic hit that earned €30m at the box office. It is going up for Best Film, Director, Actress (Angela Finocchiaro) and Actor (Claudio Bisio).

The shortlist for Best Film is rounded out by the comedy Basilicata Coast to Coast [trailer], the debut film by Rocco Papaleo, and Daniele Luchetti’s Our Life [trailer], with eight nominations each, and Claudio Cupellini’s A Quiet Life [trailer, film focus] (four).

The filmmakers vying for Best Director are eight (due to many ex aequo nominations). Besides Martone, Miniero, Luchetti and Cupellini, they are Marco Bellocchio (Sorelle mai [trailer]), Saverio Costanzo (The Solitude of Prime Numbers [trailer]), Michelangelo Frammartino (The Four Times [trailer, film focus]) and Paolo Genovese (Immaturi [trailer]).

Best Actress sees a competition between Finocchiaro, Paola Cortellesi (Nessuno mi può giudicare [trailer]), Sarah Felberbaum (The Little Gem [trailer]), Isabella Ragonese (Our Life) e Alba Rohrwacher ( The Solitude of Prime Numbers ). Best Actor will have Bisio going up against Antonio Albanese (Whatsoeverly [trailer]), Elio Germano (Our Life), Vinicio Marchioni (20 Cigarettes [trailer], which has an overall eight nominations) and Kim Rossi Stuart (Vallanzasca [trailer]).

The nominees for Best Film from the European Union are: Mike Leigh’s Another Year [trailer, film focus], Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech [trailer, film focus], Susanne Bier’s In a Better World [trailer], Juan José Campanella’s The Secret in Their Eyes [trailer] and Xavier Beauvois’ Uomini di Dio [trailer, film focus].

The David di Donatello Awards ceremony will be held May 6 in Rome and will be covered live at 5 pm on RAI Movie, and recorded on RAI Uno and RAI International at 11:20 pm.

For the complete list of nominees, please click here.

(Translated from Italian)