Twelve Italian films will compete to represent Italy as candidates for the International Feature Film Award category of the 95th Academy Awards.
The films, distributed in Italy, or to be distributed, in the period between January 1 and November 30, 2022 have proposed their candidature.
The selection committee, set up at ANICA (Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive) at the request of the Academy, will meet to vote on the nominated title on September 26.
A handful of historical films, re-enlivening revered cultural icons of the Bel Paese, are in the mix, including Michele Placido’s L'ombra di Caravaggio, starring Riccardo Scamarcio: a spirited, rock star portrayal of the painter’s personal relationships and tribulations at the hands of the the Catholic Church. Also contending are Pupi Avati’s Dante, a biopic exploring the great Renaissance poet’s tumultuous end days, and Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Chiara, a musical drama following the life of Saint Clare of Assisi, played by Margherita Mazzucco of L’amica Geniale fame.
Riccardo Scamarcio in L'ombra di Caravaggio. (Photo: ANSA)
In the literary adaptations camp, there’s Mario Martone’s widely lauded Nostalgia, based on a 2016 novel by Ermanno Rea, and Francesca Archibugi’s il Colibrì, adapted from a 2019 work by Sandro Veronese.
Contenders fresh from the 2022 Venice Film Festival include Emanuele Crialese’s L'immensità, an intensely personal family drama starring Penélope Cruz as the mother of a child struggling with gender identity in 1970s Rome. Gianni Amelio’s Il Signore Delle Formiche, based on the true story of Aldo Braibanti, an Italian writer jailed in 1968 due to a fascist-era anti-gay law, has also been put forward, with the film already having made headlines for becoming the top grossing title in Italy, the first Italian film to achieve this feat in months.
Luigi Lo Cascio and Leonardo Maltese in Il Signore delle Formiche. (Photo: ANSA)
Other contenders include Ciro De Caro’s Giulia, Giovanni Basso’s Mindemic, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Le Otto Montagne, Laura Samani’s Piccolo Corpo and Roberto Andò’s La Stranezza.
The Italian shortlist is scheduled to be announced on December 21, ahead of official Oscar nominations, which will be announced on January 24, 2023.
The 95th Academy Awards ceremony is set to be held in Los Angeles on March 12, 2023.