Venice 2009: George Clooney, Toni Servillo, Best Director Shirin Neshat

Best director winner Shirin Neshat for Women Without Men at the 2009 Venice Film Festival

George Clooney, pushing The Men Who Stare at Goats and Up in the Air, and TV presenter-actress Elisabetta Canalis

Toni Servillo at a photocall for Maurizio Zaccaro’s Il Piccolo, screened in the Controcampo sidebar
Photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival
Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Italian Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Nastri d’Argento
National Union of Italian Film Journalists’ 2009 Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) nominations: May 29, 2009
2009 Nastri d’Argento winners: Taormina Film Festival, Sicily, on June 27, 2009
(”*” denotes the winner in each category)
 

Toni Servillo (center) as Italian prime-minister Giulio Andreotti in Paolo Sorrentino’s scathing political comedy-drama Il Divo. At the Nastri d’Argento awards ceremony, Sorrentino remarked that if he were to make Il Divo today, “and revolving around a woman, it’d certainly be about Veronica Lario.” Former actress Lario is right-wing prime-minister Silvio Berlusconi’s soon-to-be former wife, who recently filed for divorce while accusing her family-values proponent husband of being much too interested in some very young women.
 

Best Director
Francesca Archibugi (Questione di cuore)
Pupi Avati [...]

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. [...]

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, [...]

Nastri d’Argento 2008

2008 Nastri d’Argento
National Union of Italian Film Journalists’ 2008 Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) nominations: May 11, 2008
2008 Nastri d’Argento winners: Teatro Antico di Taormina, Sicily, on June 14, 2008
(”*” denotes the winner in each category)
 

Isabella Ragonese plays a college grad who struggles to find work in A Whole Life Ahead
 

Best Director
Antonello GRIMALDI – Caos calmo
Daniele LUCHETTI – Mio fratello è figlio unico
Silvio SOLDINI – Giorni e nuvole
* Paolo VIRZÌ – Tutta la vita davanti / A Whole Life Ahead
Gianni ZANASI – Non pensarci
Best European Film
Across the Universe – Julie Taymor
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Shekar Kapur
Atonement – Joe Wright
La vie en [...]

Italian Film Critics Awards 2005

2005 Nastri d’Argento
The Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) are presented by the Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (National Union of Italian Film Journalists) to Italian films or, at times, to Italian talent in foreign films.
2005 Nastri d’Argento winners: Auditorium di Roma on February 4, 2005
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Gianni Amelio’s The Keys to the House is the tale of a physically and mentally challenged boy (Andrea Rossi) whose estranged father (Kim Rossi Stuart, above with Charlotte Rampling) is asked to accompany him to Berlin for medical tests. Other family members hope the two can form an emotional bond that will help alleviate the boy’s condition.
 

Best Director
* Gianni Amelio – Le Chiavi di casa / The Keys to the [...]