The Hand of God

Source: Gianni Fiorito

‘The Hand of God’

Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God won four prizes at the 67th David di Donatello awards, including best film (the first Netflix title to do so), best director and best supporting actress for Teresa Saponangelo. 

The Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama also shared the cinematography prize with Gabriele Mainetti’s Venice competition title Freaks Out, which won six awards in total, including prizes for the producers, production design, hairdressing, make-up and VFX.

The two films both had the highest number of nominations with 16.

The in-person ceremony took place on Tuesday (May 3) at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios.

Other Venice titles that collected prizes were Mario Martone’s The King Of Laughter, which won two awards from 14 nominations including best actor in a supporting role for Eduardo Scarpetta; and Leonardo Di Costanzo’s out of competition drama The Inner Cage, which took home best original screenplay and best actor for Silvio Orlando.

Giuseppe Tornatore’s Ennio Morricone documentary Ennio won best editing, best sound and best documentary.

Swamy Rotolo was the surprise winner of the best actress David for her role in Jonas Carpignano’s Cannes premiere A Chiara. Laura Samani’s Little Body, which featured in Critics’ Week, won the best first time director award.

The ceremony was opened by culture minister Enrico Franceschini who recently announced plans to widen distribution windows and spoke about new funds for boosting cinemagoing, which has still not rebounded in Italy after the pandemic.

Belfast won best international film, with young lead Jude Hill on stage to collect the award.

An honorary award was given to actress Giovanna Ralli, who worked with Italian golden age directors Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini and Federico Fellini.

A special David was awarded to Italian actress Sabrina Ferilli and indie director Antonio Capuano. Paolo Sorrentino handed the award to Capuano in an emotional moment - Capuano first helped Sorrentino find a job in cinema in the late 80s and is portrayed by Ciro Capano in The Hand Of God.

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