Paolo Sorrentino's Il Divo, a biopic of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, and Matteo Garrone's organized crime thriller Gomorrah, both starring Toni Servillo, were the top nominees for the Italian Academy's 2009 David di Donatello awards.
Il Divo led the field with 16 nominations, followed by Gomorrah with 11. Both films, which are in the running in the best picture category, have already won several international awards: Il Divo received the Special Jury Award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and a European Film Award for best actor Toni Servillo (also for Gomorrah); Gomorrah won Cannes' Grand Prix and five European Film Awards, including best film and Servillo's shared best actor prize. Gomorrah was also Italy's submission for the 2009 best foreign language film Academy Award, but was surprisingly bypassed at nomination time.
Others vying for the David di Donatello for best film are Fausto Brizzi's romance Ex, starring Alessandro Gassman; Paolo Virzi's comedy Tutta la Vita Davanti / Her Whole Life Ahead, about a recent university graduate trying to get work in Italy's increasingly ruthless job market; and Giulio Manfredonia's comedy about mental institutions, Si può fare / You Can Do It.
Sorrentino, Garrone, Brizzi, and Manfredonia also received nominations for best director, along with Pupi Avati for Il Papa di Giovanna / Giovanna's Father.
Among the acting nominees in the lead categories are Servillo for Il Divo (but not for Gomorrah); two-time David di Donatello winner Silvio Orlando for Il Papa di Giovanna, for which he received the best actor prize at the 2008 Venice Film Festival; and Valeria Golino as a night teacher with a secret in Giulia non esce la sera (above, with Valerio Mastandrea, nominated for Non pensarci).
Among the nominees for best European Union film are Slumdog Millionaire and Waltz with Bashir, while Milk and WALL-E are among those in the running for the best foreign film David.
The David di Donatello awards ceremony will take place on May 8.