Italy has selected Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for the best international feature Oscar.
Vermiglio won the Grand Jury Prize in Competition at Venice earlier this month. Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.
Producers on the film are Francesca Andreoli, Santiago Fondevila, Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli and Delpero, for Italy’s Cinedora with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s Charades Productions and Belgium’s Versus Production.
Sideshow and Janus Films acquired North American rights on the film following its Venice win; Charades handles worldwide sales, having struck the North American deal alongside Anonymous Content.
The film was selected from 19 submissions to represent Italy, with other eligible titles including Paolo Sorrentino’s Cannes Competition title Parthenope and Venice films Battleground from Gianni Amelio and The Time It Takes from Francesca Comencini.
Italy has won the international feature prize on 11 occasions, most recently with Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty in 2013. Those wins came from 30 total nominations, with Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano and Sorrentino’s The Hand of God nominated in 2024 and 2022 respectively.
Delpero is the first woman to represent Italy in the category since Cristina Comencini with Don’t Tell in 2006; and only fifth different woman (six entries) in total from 71 submissions.
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