Grimaldi, Virzì and Molaioli vie for Silver Ribbons

by Gabriele Barcaro

12/05/2008 - The nominations were announced yesterday for the Silver Ribbons, awarded by the National Film Journalists Union.

Vying as directors of the Best Italian Film are Antonello Grimaldi (Quiet Chaos [trailer, film focus]) and Paolo Virzì (Tutta la vita davanti [trailer] (with seven nominations each), Daniele Luchetti (My Brother Is an Only Child [trailer, film focus]), Silvio Soldini (Days and Clouds [trailer]) and Gianni Zanasi (Don’t Think About It [trailer]).

David di Donatello sweeper The Girl by the Lake [trailer] by Andrea Molaioli picked up seven nominations (as did Luchetti’s film and Giuliano Montaldo’s The Demons of St. Petersburg [trailer]), including Best Debut Film.

Approximately 40 films (released from April 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008) were nominated in the various categories, including some not known by wider audiences – from Sardinian title Sonetàula [trailer] by Salvatore Mereu and Jimmy della collina, both nominated for Best Live Sound Recording, to Cover Boy, whose Luca Lionello is up for Best Supporting Actor.

In the Best Actress category, Margherita Buy (just off a David win for Days and Clouds) is flanked by up-and-coming young actresses Cristiana Capotondi (The Viceroys [trailer]), Carolina Crescentini (for her turns in Concrete Romance [trailer] and The Demons of St. Petersburg ), Isabella Ragonese (Tutta la vita davanti) and Alba Rohrwacher (Riprendimi by Anna Negri).

There are four foreign films in competition on which Italian artists worked: Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, for the production design of Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo; François Girard’s Silk [trailer] for Carlo Poggioli’s costumes; Terry Gilliam’s Tideland [trailer] for DoP Nicola Pecorini; and the French-Belgian title Odette Toulemonde [trailer] for Nicola Piovani’s score.

Excluded from the nominations because they are not Italian (as the rules stipulate), Antonia Liskova and Kasia Smutniak, who star respectively in Shelter [trailer] and In Your Hands, receive European Silver Ribbons.

With regards to Europe, it is somewhat curious that the nominations (extended this year to 10) for Best European Film include US title Across the Universe by Julie Taymor.

The winners will be announced during the Taormina Film Festival at the June 14 awards ceremony, at which Carlo Verdone’s Grande grosso e... Verdone [trailer] will receive the Silver Ribbon of the Year and four special awards will be presented to director Carlo Lizzani, DoP Vittorio Storaro, screenwriter Piero De Bernardi and actor Giuliano Gemma.

(Translated from Italian)