Giordana, Ozpetek Nab Nine Nominations Each for Italy’s Nastri d’Argento Awards

ROME – The latest projects from directors Marco Tullio Giordana and Ferzan Ozpetek were nominated in nine categories each in a red-carpetless ceremony for the 66th Astri d’Argento (Silver Ribbon) prizes at Rome’s Villa Medici.

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Organizers announced last week they would eliminate the red carpet for Italy’s oldest film awards in order to have a more “somber” atmosphere as the country mourned the victims of a series of devastating earthquakes in the region of Emilia-Romagna.

The nominations, which are presented each year by the Italian National Union of Film Journalists, otherwise went out as normal, with an often provocative take on the year’s best films.

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Giordana’s Romanzo di una strage (Story of a Massacre), which tells the story of a 1969 bombing in Milan, and Ozpetek’s Magnifica presenza (Magnificent Presence), which recounts the story of a young man who dreams of being an actor, were both nominated in the Best Director category, and were also well represented in the acting categories and among the secondary award categories.

Also named in the Director categories were Emanuele Crialese for the immigration drama Terraferma; Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place, which stars Sean Penn as a jaded former rock star who seeks out his father’s former Nazi prosecutor; and Diaz, from Daniele Vicari, which reenacts the bloody 2001 G-8 summit in the Italian city of Genoa.

All told, Diaz trailed Giordana and Ozpetek with seven total nominations, followed by This Must Be The Place and Terraferma, with five nominations each. The winners will be announced on June 30 at the 2,700-year-old Teatro Antico in Taormina, Sicily, best known internationally as the home of the 58-year-old Taormina Film Festival.

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Among the other prizes for the Nastri d’Argento is the Best European Film category, in which Michel Hazanavicius’ Oscar winner The Artist is nominated along with Carnage from Roman Polanski, 2011 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Faust from Alexander Sokurov and Steve McQueen’s Shame.

For Best Non-European Film, the nominees are: Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive; Martin Scorsese’s Hugo; Midnight in Paris from Woody Allen; Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life; and Best Foreign Film Oscar winner Una Separazione (A Separation) from Ashgar Farhadi.

As announced earlier, Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die), the story of a prison acting troupe preparing to perform William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar from brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani will be given the Film of the Year prize in Taormina. The award-winning film already won three top prizes at the David di Donatello awards a month ago, as well as the coveted Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in February.