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2009 David di Donatello Winners

Matteo Garrone’s organized crime drama Gomorrah (above, top photo), based on Roberto Saviano’s polemical book, took top honors at the 2009 David di Donatello awards. The Italian Film Academy voted Gomorrah the best Italian film of the year and Garrone the best director, in addition to handing the film five other awards, including best screenplay and best producer.
Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo (above, lower photo), which also deals (however indirectly) with the mafia, also received a total of seven statues (out of 16 nominations), including the best actor trophy for star Toni Servillo’s brilliant caricature of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, and a best supporting actress win for Piera Degli Espositi.
Last year, Gomorrah won the Cannes [...]

David di Donatello 2009

2009 David di Donatello Awards
2009 David di Donatello Award nominations: April 9, 2009
2009 David di Donatello Award winners: May 8, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah (top photo); Toni Servillo in Il Divo (lower photo)
 

Best Film / miglior film
Il divo
produced by Andrea Occhipinti, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Maurizio Coppolecchia
directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Ex
produced by Fulvio Lucisano, Federica Lucisano
directed by Fausto Brizzi
* Gomorra
produced by Domenico Procacci
directed by Matteo Garrone
Si può fare
produced by Angelo Rizzoli
directed by Giulio Manfredonia
Tutta la vita davanti
produced by Motorino Amaranto – Medusa
directed by Paolo Virzì
Best Film from the European Union / miglior film dell’Unione Europea
Entre les murs, by Laurent [...]

2009 David di Donatello Nominations

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 [...]

Matteo Garrone, GOMORRAH, and the Camorra

In Agence France Presse, European Film Award winner Matteo Garrone discusses real-life issues related to Gomorrah (above, with Toni Servillo), his mafia thriller that is a likely contender for the 2009 best foreign-language film Oscar:
"The idea of bringing the army to fight them is, for me, superficial. It’s good for the image of the Italian government, but it won’t do anything to fix the problem.
"You have to work from the inside, to create a relationship between citizens and the institutions of power. The Camorra is very strong because they live there, they grew up there, they are close to people.
"If you don’t work from the inside it will be very difficult. [...]

GOMORRAH Wins 2008 European Film Award

A chronicle of the workings of the Neapolitan underworld, Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah — based on Roberto Saviano’s non-fiction book — was the big winner at the 2008 European Film Awards, receiving honors for best European film, best director, best actor (Toni Servillo, also for Il Divo), best screenplay (Garrone, Saviano, Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Massimo Gaudioso), and best cinematography (Marco Onorato).
Gomorrah, which has been garnering widespread praise at film festivals worldwide (it won the Grand Prix at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival), is Italy’s submission for the best foreign-language film Academy Award.
Curiously, this year’s Palme d’Or winner, The Class, failed to win a single award at the European Film Award ceremony in Copenhagen. Last year’s big [...]

European Film Awards 2008

2008 European Film Awards
2008 European Film Award nominations: Nov 8, 2008
2008 European Film Award winners: Copenhagen on Dec. 6, 2008
Photos: Rune Evensen/ScanPix
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

 
EUROPEAN FILM 2008
IL DIVO, Italy
written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino
produced by Indigofilm, Lucky Red, Parco Film, Babe Films, StudioCanal,
Arte France Cinéma
ENTRE LES MURS (The Class), France
directed by Laurent Cantet
written by Laurent Cantet, François Begaudeau & Robin Campillo after
the novel of François Begaudeau
produced by Haut et Court, France 2 Cinéma
* GOMORRA (Gomorrah), Italy
directed by Matteo Garrone
written by Maurizio Bracci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone,
Massimo Gaudioso & Roberto Saviano
produced by Fandango, RAI Cinema
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, UK
written and directed by Mike Leigh
produced by Thin Man Films Ltd., Summit Entertainment, [...]

The LONDON TIMES’ Top 100 Films of 2008

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (top); Time and Winds by Reha Erdem (bottom)

The London and the Sunday Times critics are apparently quite easy to please. They’ve come up with a list of no less than 100 Best Films for one single year: 2008.
Among the best of the best found in the Times list are masterpieces such as:

Cloverfield ("An hour in I started to sweat. And I nearly threw up trying to make sense of the increasingly chaotic and frightening scenes of the gripping climax" – James Christopher);
Definitely, Maybe ("A romantic comedy with a refreshingly adult sensibility and plot that doesn’t feel that it has been recycled and regurgitated by innumerable Cameron Diaz movies" [...]

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