Gomorrah leads winners at David Di Donatello Awards

Gomorrah however, tied in number of awards with Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, which also took seven statues home Friday night. Sorrentino’s film scooped up prizes including best actor for Tony Servillo’s depiction of seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, while Piera Degli Espositi was honored with best supporting actress honors. Divo also took home best DOP, best music as well as other artistic and technical honors.

The two films have been the talk of the Italian cinema industry since both were recognized with prizes in Cannes last year where Gomorrah, about the Neapolitan crime organization Camorra, took home the Cannes Grand Prix while Sorrentino’s Il Divowas awarded Cannes’s Special Jury Prize.

Going into the awards ceremony, however, Il Divo led with 16 nominations with Gomorrah trailing with 11.

The two films both showed strong performances at the Italian box office (Gomorrah grossed $13.4m to Il Divo’s $6 m) however, both films shut out Fausto Brizzi’s popular film Ex, that was nominated in ten categories but didn’t take home any statues.

Other notable prizes included best actress to Alba Rohrwacher for her moving portrait of a young woman shut in a mental institution in Pupi Avati’s Giovanna’s Father, best first time director went to Gianni Di Gregorio for his Mid-August Lunch, produced by Matteo Garrone, the Young David prize went to Si Puo Fare by Giulio Manfredonia.

Best European Union Film was given to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire while Best Foreign Film was attributed to Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.

Winners

Best FilmGomorrah

Best Director Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah

Best Directorial Debut Gianni Di Gregorio, Mid-August Lunch

Best Screenplay (Gomorrah) Massimo Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano

Best Producer Domenico Procacci

Best Actress Alba Rohrwacher Giovanna’s Father

Best Actor - Tony Servillo Il Divo

Best Supporting Actress Piera Degli Espositi Il Divo

Best Supporting Actor Giuseppe Battiston Non Pensarci

Best Cinematography Luca Bigazzi Il Divo

Best Music Teho Teardo Il Divo

Best Original Song Herculaneum by Robert Del Naja Gomorrah

Best Art Direction Francesco Frigeri I Demoni di San Pietroburgo

Best Costumes Elisabetta Montaldo I Demoni di San Pietroburgo

Best Make-up Vittorio Sodano Il Divo

Best Hairstyling Aldo Signoretti Il Divo

Best Editing Marco Spoletini Gomorrah

Best Visual Effects Nicola Sganga, Rodolfo Migliari Il Divo

Best film from the European UnionSlumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle

Best Foreign FilmGran Torino by Clint Eastwood

Best Feature DocumentaryRata Nece Biti by Daniele Gaglianone

Best ShortL’Arbitro by Paolo Zucca

Young David Award Giulio Manfredonia Si Puo Fare

Special David awards:

Christian De Sica

Virna Lisi

Fulvio Lucisano

Paolo Villaggio