15/12/2014 - Among the winners The Mafia Only Kills in Summer, Best European Comedy and The Art of Happiness, best European animated feature film

Pierfrancesco Diliberto (Pif) © EFA/Riga2014/Mārtiņš Otto

At the 27th edition of the European Film Awards Italy took home two important awards, one of which went to Pif for his debut feature The Mafia Only Kills in Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierfrancesco Diliberto
film profile] in the category for Best Comedy and one to the animated feature film The Art of Happiness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Rak
film profile] by Neapolitan director Alessandro Rak. In addition, a film backed by the BLS South Tyrol Film Commission, The Dark Valley [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Andreas Prochaska,received an award for costumes by Natascha Curtius-Noss and a set design by Claus-Rudolf Amler.

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At the awards ceremony in Riga, in which Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] by Pawel Pawlikowski earned no less than five awards, Pierfrancesco Diliberto (PIF) dedicated his trophy to the victims of the Mafia. "And I must say that I'm proud to be Sicilian and from Palermo. You know that we have the Mafia, but in Italy being a Mafioso is a crime. Not in Europe though; mafia conspiracy's not an offence here: and that's shameful".

Huge emotion was also expressed by Alessandro Rak, who dedicated his award to his city and to his nephews Nicolò and Ludovico. The Art of Happiness, released in cinemas last autumn following an appearance at the Venice Film Festival Critics' Week, was directed in Naples by 40 filmmakers, just 10 of whom are illustrators and animators for the Mad Entertainment studio, the leader in animated movies.

"We beat two French mega productions with a small independent production, but what the real victor here was the spirit of a group of people in a tough and extraordinary city» said producer Luciano Stella in Riga. Only a few days after the release of the film, a graphic novel based on the movie was published by Rizzoli Lizard, and is already in its second printing, with a preface by Roberto Saviano.

(Translated from Italian)