‘The Eight Mountains’ Scores Top Honor at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards

The Eight Mountains, Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeerschs Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italys 68th David di Donatello Awards.

Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.

Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for Mountains, which was praised as quietly magnificent byVarietycritic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.

Its pretty incredible, commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie. Thank you for this declaration of love, added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. We love Italy very much. This is so beautiful.

The Eight Mountains victory was not a clean sweep at Italys top film prizes.

Veteran auteur Marco Bellocchios Exterior Night, a limited TV series about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades that played in Italian cinemas before airing on TV scored a David for Bellocchio, who won best director. And Exterior Night also took the award for actor that went to Fabrizio Gifuni, who plays Moro, plus statuettes for editor Francesca Calvelli and make up artist Enrico Iacoponi.

When you reach a certain age you become wise, Bellocchio said. The important thing is to keep working, to make beautiful things. To not stay idle. I hope I still have some time to make some more beautiful things, he added. Bellocchio, who is 83, will soon be in Cannes with the drama Kidnapped, inspired by the story of Edgardo Mortara, the Jewish child who in 1858 was removed from his family to be raised as a Catholic in the custody of Pope Pius IX.

Roberto Ands La Stranezza (Strangeness), a tragicomic period piece about how Pirandello found inspiration to write his masterpiece Six Characters in Search of an Author, won prizes for best producer, screenplay and set design.

Ensemble comedy Settembre, the first feature film directed by actor-screenwriter Giulia Louise Steigerwalt who is a UCLA grad was a definite standout, scoring a David for directorial debut for Steigerwalt and the best actress prize for Barbara Ronchi. The film intertwines three stories about existential anxieties across different generations that take place in September and combine light-heartedness and melancholy.

Special Davids went to Isabella Rossellini, who was handed her David by Matt Dillon, and director Enrico Vanzina, a veteran Italian hit comedies specialist. The career honor went to Marina Cicogna, Italys first major female film producer, who in the exclusively male milieu of Italian and European film in the late 1960s shepherded films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Liliana Cavani and Elio Petri.

When I started out as a producer I was the only women in this field. I didnt think it was a big deal, but men certainly didnt help me out much, she said.

The Davids were held at Romes Cinecitt Studios, which are undergoing a radical renewal thanks to a $300 million cash injection allocated by the EUs post-pandemic recovery fund.

Though Italys film industry is prolific, the countrys box office is still sagging. In 2022, the country tallied a measly 44.5 million admissions, which reps a 48% drop compared with its average pre-pandemic level and is below theatrical moviegoing recovery rates for France, Germany, Spain and the U.K.

During the Davids ceremony, Italian Deputy Culture Minister Lucia Bergonzonipledged a 20 million ($22 million) government investment that will promote moviegoing by financing a campaign under which tickets will cost half-price for a limited time.

See the complete list of 2023 David Awards winners below.

PICTURE

The Eight Mountains, Felix Van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch

DIRECTOR

Marco Bellocchio, Exterior Night

DEBUT DIRECTOR

September, Giulia Louise Steigerwalt

PRODUCER

Strangeness, Angelo Barbagallo, Bibi Film; Attilio De Razza, Tramp Limited, with Medusa and RAI Cinema

ACTRESS

Barbara Ronchi, Settembre

ACTOR

Fabrizio Gifuni, Exterior Night

SUPPORTING ACTRES

Emanuela Fanelli, Siccit

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Francesco Di Leva, Nostalgia

SCREENPLAY

Roberto And, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso, Strangeness

Best Adapted Screenplay

Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersh The Eight Mountains

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ruben Impens, The Eight Mountains

EDITING

Francesca Calvelli, with collaboration of Claudio Misantoni, Exterior Night

DOCUMENTARY

Il Cerchio, Sophie Chiarello

SCORE

Stefano Bollani, Il Pataffio

ORIGINAL SONG

Proiettili, Music by Joan Thiele, Elisa Toffoli, Emanuele Triglia. Performed by Elodie, Joan Thiele Ti Mangio il Cuore

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Giada Calabria, Loredana Raffi Strangeness

COSTUME DESIGN

Maria Rita Barbera, Strangeness

MAKEUP ARTIST

Diego Prestopino, Emanuele De Luca, Davide De Luca, Freaks Out

HAIR ARTIST

Desiree Corridoni, Caravaggios Shadow

SOUND

Alessandro Palmerini, Alessandro Feletti, Marco Falloni The Eight Mountains

DIGITAL EFFECTS

Marco Geracitano, Siccit

AUDIENCE AWARD

Il grande giorno, Massimo Venier

DAVID YOUTH AUDIENCE AWARD

Caravaggios Shadow, Michele Placido

BEST SHORT

Le variabili dipendenti, Lorenzo Tardella

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Fabelemans, Steven Spielberg

CAREER DAVID

Marina Cicogna

SPECIAL DAVID

Isabella Rossellini

SPECIAL DAVID

Enrico Vanzina