Celebrating their stay as a physical event, the upcoming 67th David di Donatello Awards in Italy exemplify the ongoing transformation of generations and genres taking place at Cinema Italiano.
Heading this year’s collection is veteran author Paolo Sorrentino’s film “The Hand of God” and young director Gabriele Mainetti’s second feature, the elegant, impact-packed historical fantasy “Freaks Out,” set in Rome in 1943 and featuring four “freaks” he was working in a circus when Allied forces bombed the Eternal City. Both pictures scored 16 nominations each.
In the background is Mario Marton’s classic The King of Laughter, about the early 1900s Neapolitan actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta, with 14 names. Then comes Leonardo Di Costanzo’s cute prison drama “Ariaferma” and “Diabolik”, an adaptation of a comic book about a sorcerer thief directed by Marco and Antonio Manetti, both of whom have 11 names.
“We have all the masters represented in the nominations,” says film critic Pierra Detassis, who heads the Italian Film Academy that administers the awards, citing Sorrentino, Marton and Giuseppe Tornatore, for whom Ennio Morricone’s “Ennio” is one of his films.
“But there is also a younger generation who deals with the genre in the forms of fantasy and comedy. This is unusual in Italian cinema, and more so within the Davids family.”
Detassis is quick to point out just how important and symbolic the Davids are – returning to in-person custody after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic – at Rome’s Cinecittà studios as acclaimed facilities that have undergone a radical renovation being carried out by Nicola Macanico, former CEO of Sky and Warner Bros. (See separate interview).
Ditasis, who is the first woman to preside over an Academy Award in Italy, also confirms, unfortunately, that there are no women represented in Best Picture and Best Director.
On the plus side, two women are vying for the figurine prize for the first time: Maura Delpero for the powerful drama “Maternal,” which is set in an Argentine orphanage for single teenage mothers who are run by nuns, and “Little” Laura Samani’s Magical Flesh, “about a woman in a northern countryside Eastern Italy tries to save the soul of her stillborn baby in 1900.
Another small but important indication that all hope should not be lost when it comes to achieving greater gender balance in the Italian industry is the fact that most of the nominees for Best Actresses (see list) have never been nominated to represent David before.
“There is clearly a generational shift, and this is more evident in the category of female representation than in the male category,” Ditasis says, which consists mostly of the usual suspects. It also notes that if “Hand of God” Daria D’Antonio wins best cinematography for David, it will be the first time this award has been given to a woman.
Unlike at this year’s Academy Awards, where awards in eight categories, including film editing, original score and production design, were awarded during the indirect portions of the show and then edited into telecasts, Detasis insisted on this during the broadcast. “All awards must be fully represented,” Davids’ Television Show says.
Achieving this was not easy and caused discussions with publisher RAI, which produces and broadcasts Davids. “It’s tricky because they have a general audience eager to see the big, beloved stars of Italian cinema, while some of the other movers and shakers in the industry have less television appeal,” Detassis said.
So understandably, she’s “proud that we stuck to our guns, while the Oscars had to give up.”
The Davids, to be held in Cinecittà on 3 May, will celebrate the entire Italian film community at a time when Italian directors, in the wake of the pandemic, seem drawn to stories that celebrate their legacy or just the fun of the scene in different ways.
Ditasis notes how a love for film and theater is a recurring thematic element in films of early adopters such as “The Hand of God,” “Ennio,” “The King of Laughter,” and even “Freaks,” which combine elements of superheroes with the 1943 films Open Rome Background.
“There is nostalgia for the golden age of cinema, or more broadly, the desire to get back in front of the big screen or in the theater for a live show,” she says.
Accordingly, this year’s David Di Donatello Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to screen and stage star Giovanna Ralli, 87, who epitomizes the greatness of Italian performing arts after working with directors including Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, and co-stars such as Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassmann and Stefania Sandrelli, to name a few.
Remarkably, Raleigh, who is still active, has a role in director Jasmine Trinca’s debut “Marcel!” Which will be shown soon in Cannes.
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