David di Donatello

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David di Donatello Awards
Current: 68th David di Donatello
David di Donatello miglior canzone originale- Alessandro Nelson Garofalo.jpg
A David di Donatello awarded in 2014
Awarded forThe best of Italian and foreign motion picture productions
Date1955;69 years ago (1955)
CountryItaly
Presented by Academy of Italian Cinema
First awarded5 June 1956
Website www.daviddidonatello.it

The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's David , a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, [1] are film awards given out each year by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award categories, as of 2023.

Contents

The industry-voted awards are considered the Italian equivalent of the American Academy Awards [2] and rank among top-tier awards such as the Premio Regia Televisiva for television, the Premio Ubu for stage performances, the Sanremo Music Festival, and the annual Venice Film Festival, which hosts the Golden Lion film award. [3]

History

The David di Donatello film awards follow the same criteria as the American Academy Awards. [2] The ceremony was established in 1955 in order to honour the best of each year's Italian and foreign films, and first awarded in Rome on 5 July 1956. [4]

Similar prizes had already existed in Italy for about a decade, such as the Nastro d'Argento, but these were voted on by film critics and journalists. However, the Donatellos are awarded by people within the film industry, including actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and technicians.[ citation needed ]

After Rome, from 1957 to 1980, the ceremony was held at the Greek Theatre in Taormina during Taormina Film Fest, then twice in Florence, finally returning to Rome, always with the support of the President of the Italian Republic and now with the collaboration of the Rome City Council cultural policies department.[ citation needed ] During the years 1950s, when the ceremony was held in Taormina, it was organized by journalist and film producer Michael Stern, who later went on to found The Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation in New York City.[ citation needed ]

The founding organization, now called the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, works in concert with and thanks to the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Performing Arts and the Ministry for Cultural Properties and Activities.[ citation needed ]

The prizes are awarded primarily to Italian films, with a category dedicated to foreign-language films.

Presidents

Italian President Ciampi shows the prize at the 2005 awards ceremony. David di Donatello a Ciampi.jpg
Italian President Ciampi shows the prize at the 2005 awards ceremony.

Here is a list of presidents of the Academy of Italian Cinema:

PresidentStartEndNotes
Italo Gemini 19551970
Eitel Monaco 19711977
Paolo Grassi 19781980
Gian Luigi Rondi 19812016†President for life since 2009
Giuliano Montaldo 20162017Interim
Piera Detassis 2018currentFirst female to hold the office

† Died in office.

Trophy

The David di Donatello trophy is in the form of a gold David statuette, a replica of Donatello's famous sculpture, on a square malachite base with a gold plaque recording the award category, year, and winner.[ citation needed ]

The 1956 David by Bulgari, awarded to Gina Lollobrigida for Beautiful but Dangerous , was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2013. [5]

Award categories

Retired awards

Statistics

Multiple prize-winning actors

As of 2020, with seven awards each, Margherita Buy, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, and Sophia Loren are the actors who have won the most Davids. [6] [7]

  Women
ActorLeadingSupportingTotal
WNWNWN
Margherita Buy 51323716
Alberto Sordi 78008
Vittorio Gassman 77007
Sophia Loren 77007
Giancarlo Giannini 4713510
Marcello Mastroianni 56006
Monica Vitti 56006
Marina Confalone 11456
Valerio Mastandrea 2825413
Toni Servillo 4100111
Elio Germano 45027
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi 46006
Mariangela Melato 45005
Nino Manfredi 44004

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Trionfante e sereno nella sua nudità, David, simbolo del Rinascimento" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Oscar's Foreign Cousins". Variety . Variety Media. 9 December 1998. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Sackler Documentary 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' Wins Venice 2002 Golden Lion Award for Best Film". The Hollywood Reporter . 10 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Laviosa, Flavia (29 January 2015). "David di Donatello 1956–2016: Sixty Years of Awards" [Call for Papers](PDF). Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies. Intellect. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Gold and malachite 'David'". Sotheby's.
  6. ↑ "David di Donatello: La Storia" (in Italian). rai.it. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  7. ↑ "David di Donatello 2018, 63 anni di Oscar del Cinema italiano" (in Italian). altrospettacolo.it. 18 March 2018. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2018. Tra gli attori più premiati di sempre troneggiano Alberto Sordi e Vittorio Gassman, entrambi a quota 7 David, vinti sempre come migliori attori protagonisti. La Meryl Streep del Cinema italiano è invece Margherita Buy, che ne ha vinti altrettanti (su 16 candidature)
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