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Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio won best film at the 70th David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars, held at Rome’s historic Cinecittà film studio on Wednesday night. Delpero also took best directing honors en route to a 7-trophy sweep.

The film, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival last year, beat out the two award frontrunners, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, a sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, which lead the pack going into the David awards with 15 nominations each. Parthenope went away empty-handed, but The Great Ambition took two awards: Best actor for Elio Germano, who play Berlinguer, and best editing for Jacopo Quadri.

Tecla Insolia won best actress for her starring role in Nicolangelo Gelormini’s Sicilian...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, the director’s sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, are the frontrunners for this year’s David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars.

Parthenope and The Great Ambition picked up 15 nominations each, including for best film and best director. In the best film category, they will face up against Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s L’arte della gioia (The Art of Joy), which received 14 nominations each, and the Francesca Comencini-directed drama The Time It Takes, which received four nominations. Other multiple nominees include Margherita Vicario’s debut feature Gloria!, about women musicians at a Church-run establishment in early-1800s Italy, which scored nine nominations, and Francesco Costabile’s crime thriller Familia, with eight.

In the best international film category,...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition have taken the lead at the nomination stage for Italy’s upcoming 70th David di Donatello awards.

The titles have secured 15 nominations each including for best film and director.

Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s The Art Of Joy received 14 nominations each, followed by Gloria! and Familia with nine and eight nominations respectively.

Sorrentino’s Parthenope, following a woman from her birth in 1950 to the current day against the backdrop of Naples, world premiered in Cannes.

Biopic The Great Ambition stars Elio Germano as 1970s and 1980s left-wing political leader Enrico Berlinguer, who nearly led the Communist party into power.

Vermiglio world premiered in Venice where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and went on to be Italy’s 2025 Oscars submission. Set in a remote mountain village in 1944, the drama revolves around...

Marcello Sannino’s debut work wins the festival’s first edition, while its protagonist Ivana Lotito scoops the Best Actress accolade. Rose Stone Star, Marcello Sannino’s debut work starring Ivana Lotito, Ludovica Nasti and Fabrizio Rongione, has walked away with the award for Best Film at the first ever edition of the Matera Film Festival: “For the pertinence of its subject matter – the jury’s statement explains – addressed within a coherent structure which tells a wholly female story of survival in uncliched fashion. The film’s measured mise en scene, which is never intrusive, is complemented by a sincere and moving acting performance”. Indeed, protagonist Ivana Lotito was awarded the trophy for Best Actress. The film is produced by Antonella Di Nocera (Parallelo 41 Produzioni), Gaetano Di Vaio and Giovanna Crispino (Bronx Film) and Pier Francesco Aiello alongside Rai Cinema. Released in cinemas in late...

A contemporary British movie version is to be made of Little Boy Blue, one of the novels by cult American writer and convicted criminal Edward Bunker, who died in 2005.

A contemporary British movie version is to be made of Little Boy Blue, one of the novels by cult American writer and convicted criminal Edward Bunker, who died in 2005.

Bunker was the co-star of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (as Mr Blue). His books have sold over 3 million copies and have spawned such films as Straight Time (1978), Animal Factory (2000) and Dog Eat Dog (2016).

Bridge Way Films and Ipso Facto Productions are...

Exclusive: Gangster drama features stars of Gomorrah, The Young Montalbano and Suburra.

Italian outfit Minerva Pictures is launching sales on Toni D’Angelo’s [pictured] Naples-set gangster melodrama Falchi, taking inspiration from the Southern Italian city’s real-life special police unit known as the “falchi”, or falcons, which is focused on fighting organised crime.

“It’s a powerful gangster-crime melodrama which we’re describing as Johnnie To meets Michael Mann. It mixes an auteur element with action,” said Minerva Pictures chief Gianluca Curti who is producing the film alongside Gaetano Di Vaio of Bronx Film.

Fortunato Cerlino, best-known internationally for his role as mafia clan chief Pietro Savastano in Stefano Sollima’s Gomorrah, and Michele Riondino, of The Young Montalbano fame, will play Peppe and Francesco, two flawed but dedicated officers who work closely in the falcon squad.

Other cast members include Claudio Amendola, seen most recently in Sollima’s Suburra, who will play...

Manuel here to bring you some more film festival news. Toronto, Venice, Telluride and New York are behind us but that doesn’t mean we’re done with film festivals; across the pond, London and Rome have recently wrapped up which means: awards!

BFI London Film Festival (8-19 October)

Official Competition winner – Best Film: Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev (reviewed at Cannes and winner of Best Screenplay at that fest)

First Feature Competition winner – The Sutherland Award:Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy for The Tribe (Critics Week Winner at Cannes)

Documentary Competition winner – The Grierson Award: Silvered Water, Syria Self-portrait – Ossama Mohammed & Wiam Simav Bedirxan (reviewed by Glenn at Nyff)

Best British Newcomer: Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – actor Catch Me Daddy

BFI Fellowship: Stephen Frears (we were just discussing his new film!)

Rome Film Festival (15-25 October)

Bnl People’s Choice Award | Gala - Trash by Stephen Daldry

People’s Choice Award | Cinema d'Oggi - Shier...

Other winners included Chinese crime drama 12 Citizens and an Indian adaptation of Hamlet.Scroll down for full list of winners

The 9th Rome Film Festival (Oct 15-25) drew to a close tonight with an awards ceremony that saw Stephen Daldry’s Trash take home the Bnl People’s Choice Gala Award.

Set in Brazil, the film centres on three youngsters who make a discovery in a trash dump that puts them on the run from the police. Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen star in the film from Oscar-nominated Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours).

It beat competition from 14 other titles including David Fincher’s Gone Girl, Steven Soderbergh’s TV series The Knick and Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme were decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Click here for red carpet pictures from Rome[p...

Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.

Full line-up

Cinema D’Oggi

World premiere

• Angely...