News from Italy
David di Donatello: le otto montagne è in cima
Vita gazette – David di Donatello 2023, The Eight Mountains wins as best film: the film with Marinelli and Borghi based on Cognetti wins, Marco Bellocchio best director for Exterior night. Barbara Ronchi and Fabrizio Gifuni are the best leading actors.
The award ceremony of the 68th edition of the David di Donatello, the prestigious film award assigned by the Italian Film Academy and considered the national Oscars, was conducted by Carlo Conti and the actress Matilde Gioli and broadcast live on Rai 1 by the Lumina Studios in Rome. Before the ceremony, the stars walked the red carpet. The event awarded 25 David di Donatello Awards and Special Davids, including those to director Enrico Vanzina and actress Isabella Rossellini.
“Cinema is all of us”
Carlo Conti opened the ceremony with a roundup of behind-the-scenes images of the candidate films. He quoted the words of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella: “Cinema is all of us”. Matilde Gioli took the stage with a message for young people: “We need you and your ideas. We need your language, your reading of the world. Create, think, write, paint, dwell on the details and tell us about them. It would be nice to give more and more voice to the new generations to make something beautiful explode”.
“An incredible trip”
The Eight Mountains won the Best Picture award. The feature film directed by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch triumphs with four awards (film, cinematography, screenplay and sound).
The eight mountains is taken from the homonymous book by Paolo Cognetti, winner of the Strega Prize in 2017. The book sees the ten-year friendship between Pietro and Bruno (Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi) at the story’s centre. Pietro is a city boy who goes to the mountains only to spend the summer holidays, while Bruno is a shepherd and lives there all year round in the middle of the mountains. The two have known each other since they were children, when they spent their days in the mountains for long walks, forging a strong friendship. Twenty years later, Pietro, now a man, returns to the high altitudes to find himself and make peace with his past.
“An incredible journey. Why are two Belgians making a film in Italy? It was a beautiful story from a book the producers sent me, and I said: yes, I do,” says Felix Van Groeningen. “Thank you for this declaration of love. We love Italy”, adds Charlotte Vandermeersh with emotion.
The darkest days of the Republic
Exterior Night, the darkest days of the Republic: the review of Marco Bellocchio’s Series on the Kidnapping of Aldo Moro
The story of the tragic days of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro is seen through the many points of view of the characters who were protagonists and victims of that tragedy. Marco Bellocchio tells those dramatic pages of our national history with a new, original, powerful and incandescent look.
Emanuela Fanelli won as a supporting actress for Siccità while, thanks to her performance in Nostalgia, Francesco Di Leva won the David for a supporting role. Best Actress Barbara Ronchi for September and Best Actor Fabrizio Gifuni for External Night by Marco Bellocchio, awarded for directing. Elodie won the award for Best Original Song with the song Bullets in the film Ti mangio il Cuore. In contrast, Stefano Bollani won the award for Best Composer for Il Pataffio. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the producer Marina Cicogna.
David di Donatello, All the winners
BEST FILM
Night exterior
Nostalgia
The eight mountains
The lord of the ants
The strangeness
BEST DIRECTOR
Gianni Amelio – The lord of the ants
Roberto Andò – The strangeness
Marco Bellocchio – Night exterior
Mario Martone – Nostalgia
Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersh – The eight mountains
BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR
Carolina Cavalli – Amanda
Jasmine Trinca – Marcel!
Niccolo Falsetti – Margins
Giulia Louise Steigerwalt – September
Vincenzo Pirrotta – Bonebreaker
BEST SCENOGRAPHY
Giada Calabria, Loredana Raffi – The strangeness
Andrea Castorina, Marco Martucci, Laura Casalini – Night exterior
Marta Maffucci, Carolina Ferrara – The lord of the Asss
Massimiliano Nocente, Marcella Galeone – The eight mountains
Tonino Zera, Maria Grazia Schirippa, Marco Bagnoli – The shadow of Caravaggio
BEST NON-ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Francesca Archibugi, Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo – The Hummingbird
Massimo Gaudioso, Kim Rossi Stuart-Brado
Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo – Nostalgia
Salvatore Mereu-Bentu
Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersh – The eight mountains
BEST PRODUCER
Carla Altieri, Roberto De Paolis for Young Films, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri for Indigo Film, Rai Cinema – Princess
Angelo Barbagallo for BIBI Film, Attilio De Razza for Tramp Limited, with Medusa Film and Rai Cinema – The strangeness
Medusa Film, Maria Carolina Terzi, Luciano and Carlo Stella for MAD Entertainment, Roberto Sessa for Picomedia, Angelo Laudisa for Rosebud Entertainment Pictures – Nostalgia
Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a company of the Fremantle group, Simone Gattoni for Kavac Film – Esterno Notte
Wildside is a company of the Fremantle group, Rufus, Minuetto, Pyramide Productions, and Vision Distribution in collaboration with Elastic, with the participation of Canala+ and Ciné+ in partnership with Sky – The Eight Mountains.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Margherita Buy – Night exterior
Pénélope Cruz – Immensity
Claudia Pandolfi – Drought
Benedetta Porcaroli – Amanda
Barbara Ronchi – September
BEST ACTOR
Alessandro Borghi – The eight mountains
Ficarra and Picone – The strangeness
Fabrizio Gifuni – Night exterior
Luigi Lo Cascio – The lord of the Ants
Luca Marinelli – The eight mountains
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Giulia Andò – The strangeness
Emanuella Fanelli – Drought
Daniela Marra – Night exterior
Giovanna Mezzogiorno – Amanda
Aurora Quattrocchi – Nostalgia
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Francesco Di Leva – Nostalgia
Elio Germano – The lord of the ants
Fausto Russo Alesi – Night exterior
Toni Servillo – Night exterior
Filippo Timi – The eight mountains
BEST AUTHOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Maurizio Calvesi – The strangeness
Paolo Carnera – Nostalgia
Francesco Di Giacomo – Night exterior
Ruben Impens – The eight mountains
Gianni Mammalotti – Sunday tales
BEST MUSICIAN
Stefano Bollani – The pataffio
Michele Braga, Emanuele Bossi – The strangeness
Fabio Massimo Capogrosso – Night exterior
Daniel Norgren – The eight mountains
Franco Piersanti – Drought
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Dear distant love – Music by Sergio Endrigo; Texts by Riccardo Senigallia; Played by Marco Mengoni – The Hummingbird
Culi culagni – Music by Stefano Bollani; Texts by Luigi Malerba, Stefano Bollani; Played by Stefano Bollani – The pataffio
The Swamp – Music and lyrics by Niccolò Falsetti, Giacomo Pieri, Alessio Ricciotti, Francesco Turbanti; Performed by Francesco Turbanti, Emanuele Linfatti, Matteo Creatini – Margins
Bullets (I eat your heart) – Music by Joan Thiele, Elisa Toffoli, Emanuele Triglia; Texts and interpretation by Elodie, Joan Thiele – I eat your heart
If you want me – Music, lyrics and interpretation by Diodato – Diabolik – Ginko on the attack!
BEST SCENOGRAPHY
Giada Calabria, Loredana Raffi – The strangeness
Andrea Castorina, Marco Martucci, Laura Casalini – Night exterior
Marta Maffucci, Carolina Ferrara – The lord of the Ants
Massimiliano Nocente, Marcella Galeone – The eight mountains
Tonino Zera, Maria Grazia Schirippa, Marco Bagnoli – The shadow of Caravaggio
BEST COSTUMES
Maria Rita Barbera – The strangeness
Daria Calvelli – Exterior night
Massimo Cantini Parrini – Clare
Valentina Monticelli – The lord of the Ants
Carlo Poggioli – The shadow of Caravaggio
BEST TRICK
Paola Gattabrusi, Lorenzo Tamburini – Il Colibri
Enrico Iacoponi – Night exterior
Federico Laurenti, Lorenzo Tamburini – Dante
Luigi Rocchetti – The shadow of Caravaggio
Esmé Sciaroni – The lord of the ants
BEST HAIRSTYLE
Desiree Corridoni – The shadow of Caravaggio
Alberta Giuliani – Exterior at night
Samantha Mura – The lord of the ants
Rudy Safari – The strangeness
Daniela Tartari – The immensity
BEST EDITOR
Esmeralda Calabria – The strangeness
Francesca Calvelli with the collaboration of Claudio Misantoni – Outside night
Nico Leunen – The eight mountains
Simona Paggi – The lord of the Ants
Jacopo Quadri – Nostalgia
BEST SOUND
Gaetano Carito, Lilio Rosato, Nadia Paone – Exterior at night
Emanuele Cecere, Silvia Moraes, Giancarlo Rutigliano – Nostalgia
Emanuele Cicconi, Mimmo Granata, Alberto Bernardi – The lord of the ants
Carlo Missidenti, Marta Billingsley, Gianni Pallotto – The strangeness
Alessandro Palmerini, Alessandro Feletti, Marco Falloni – The eight mountains
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alessio Bertotti – Dampyr
Massimo Cipollina – Exterior at night
Marco Geracitano – Drought
Rodolfo Migliari – The eight mountains
Simone Silvestri, Vito Picchienna – Diabolik – Ginko on the attack!
DAVID YOUNG
I run to you
The Hummingbird
The shadow of Caravaggio
The strangeness
The eight mountains
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Bones and All by Luca Guadagnino
Elvis by Baz Luhrmann
Licorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Fabelmans by Steven Spielberg
Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Ostlund
BEST DOCUMENTARY – CECILIA MANGINI AWARD
The Circle of Sophie Chiarello
Traveling by Gianfranco Rosi
Kill Me If You Can by Alex Infascelli
The shyness of Valentina Bertani’s hair
Wake Me at Midnight by Francesco Patierno
BEST SHORT FILM
The dependent variables of Lorenzo Tardella
Albertine Where Are You? by Maria Guidone
Ambassadors of Francesco Romano
Valerio Ferrara’s conspiracy theorist barber
They called it Cargo by Marco Signoretti
DAVID OF THE SPECTATOR 2023
“The big day” by Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo
DAVID FOR LIFETIME 2023
Marina Cicogna
DAVID SPECIAL 2023
Isabella Rossellini
Enrico Vanzina
