03/07/2025 - Alessandro Tonda’s second work also scooped an award for its protagonist Claudio Santamaria, while La città proibita bagged Best Director and Ciao bambino Best First Film

Director Francesco Tonda with his Golden Globe for Best Film for The Negotiator, alongside journalist Francesca Biliotti (left)

The Negotiator [+see also:
film review
film profile] is the best film of the year and its protagonist, Claudio Santamaria, is best actor, according to the Foreign Press Association in Italy, who handed out their annual Golden Globe awards (65th edition) last night in the Sala della Protomoteca on Rome’s Capitoline Hill. The second cinematographic film by Alessandro Tonda (responsible for The Shift [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Tonda
film profile] and the TV series Summertime [+see also:
series review
series profile] and Suburraeterna) was singled out “for the courage involved in bringing a recent event, which is still very fresh in our collective memory, to the big screen: the tragic mission which cost Nicola Calipari his life” in “a tense, emotional and socially engaged film”. Claudio Santamaria’s Golden Globe was for having played the character based on Nicola Calipari – an Italian agent who died while on duty - with great humanity and sensitivity, “touching the audience and the jury’s hearts”. The film is sold worldwide by Minerva Pictures.

This year’s Golden Globe for Best Director, meanwhile, went to Gabriele Mainetti for La città proibita [+see also:
film review
film profile], which confirms “the originality and universality of his cinematographic vision, which transports audiences into a fantastical yet profoundly human world”. Best First Film was won by Edgardo Pistone’s Ciao bambino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edgardo Pistone
film profile], “a black and white film of great visual impact which alternates between harshness and poetry to explore an often invisible reality”.

Barbora Bobulova stood tall in the Best Actress category thanks to her performance in Per il mio bene, in which she plays “a woman in search of her roots and identity”, while the Best Young Newcomer prize went to Beatrice Barison (The Life Apart [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Tullio Giordana
film profile]), “an acting revelation who embodies the transition from music to drama both with gentleness and intensity in a mature and complex role”.

The prize for Best Comedy went to the Manetti bros.’ U.S. Palmese [+see also:
film review
film profile], “for its ability to explore dreams and humour in a light and entertaining yet meaningful and humane way”, a Globe for Best Screenplay was won by Silvio Soldini’s The Tasters [+see also:
film review
interview: Silvio Soldini
film profile], Best Cinematography was nabbed by Roberto Andò’s The Illusion [+see also:
film review
film profile], and Best Score by Gabriele Salvatores’ Naples to New York [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The Globe for Best Documentary, for its part, winged its way to Giovanna Gagliardo for Il mestiere di vivere, while Best TV series was scooped by Valeria Golino’s The Art of Joy [+see also:
series review
series profile] (which has already won 3 David di Donatello awards and 4 Nastri d’Argento trophies).

Last but not least, the foreign press paid tribute to Pupi Avati (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Isabella Rossellini (Foreign Press Grand Prize).

The winners are as follows:

Best Film
The Negotiator [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Alessandro Tonda

Best Director
La città proibita [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Gabriele Mainetti

Best First Film
Ciao bambino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edgardo Pistone
film profile] - Edgardo Pistone

Best Actress
Barbora Bobulova - Per il mio bene

Best Actor
Claudio Santamaria – The Negotiator

Best Young Newcomer
Beatrice Barison – The Life Apart [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Tullio Giordana
film profile]

Best Screenplay
Doriana Leondeff, Silvio Soldini, Cristina Comencini, Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia, Lucio Ricca – The Tasters [+see also:
film review
interview: Silvio Soldini
film profile] (Italy/Belgium/France)

Best Cinematography
Maurizio Calvesi – The Illusion [+see also:
film review
film profile]

Best Comedy
U.S. Palmese [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Manetti bros.

Best TV Series
The Art of Joy [+see also:
series review
series profile] - Valeria Golino (Italy/UK)

Best Score
Federico De Robertis – Naples to New York [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]

Best Documentary
Il mestiere di vivere - Giovanna Gagliardo

Best Short Film
Chloe - Matthias Salzburger

Lifetime Achievement Award
Pupi Avati

Foreign Press Grand Prize
Isabella Rossellini

(Translated from Italian)