David di Donatello

Annual Italian film award ceremony

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Award

David di Donatello Awards

Current: 68th David di Donatello

A David di Donatello awarded in 2014

Awarded for| The best of Italian and foreign motion picture productions
Date| 1955; 69 years ago (1955)
Country| Italy
Presented by| Academy of Italian Cinema
First awarded| 5 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.

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[edit]

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[edit]

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Italian President Ciampi shows the prize at the 2005 awards ceremony.

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

President  | Start  | End  | Notes

|
|
|

Italo Gemini | 1955  | 1970  |
Eitel Monaco | 1971  | 1977  |
Paolo Grassi | 1978  | 1980  |
Gian Luigi Rondi | 1981  | 2016†  | President for life since 2009
Giuliano Montaldo | 2016  | 2017  | Interim
Piera Detassis | 2018  | current  | First female to hold the office

† Died in office.

## Trophy[edit]

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[edit]

* David di Donatello for Best Film
* David di Donatello for Best Director
* David di Donatello for Best New Director
* David di Donatello for Best Producer
* David di Donatello for Best Actress
* David di Donatello for Best Actor
* David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress
* David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor
* David di Donatello for Best Original Screenplay
* David di Donatello for Best Adapted Screenplay
* David di Donatello for Best Cinematography
* David di Donatello for Best Score
* David di Donatello for Best Song
* David di Donatello for Best Set Designer
* David di Donatello for Best Costumes
* David di Donatello for Best Makeup
* David di Donatello for Best Hair Design
* David di Donatello for Best Editing
* David di Donatello for Best Sound
* David di Donatello for Best Visual Effects VFX
* David di Donatello for Best Documentary Feature
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film
* David di Donatello for Best Short Film
* David Youth Award (formerly known as David School Award)
* David Special Award (also known as David Career Award during some years) – awarded irregularly
* David Viewers' Award (since 2019)

## Retired awards[edit]

* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Director (1966–1990)
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor (1957–1996)
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress (1957–1996)
* David di Donatello for Best New Actor (1982–1983)
* David di Donatello for Best New Actress (1982–1983)
* David di Donatello for Best European Film (2004–2018, merged into Best Foreign Film)
* David di Donatello for Best Screenplay (1975–2016, split into Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay)
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Producer (1956–1990 except 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, and from 1972 to 1980)
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Screenplay (1979–1990)
* David di Donatello for Best Foreign Score (1979–1980)
* Golden plaque (1956–2001 except 1961, 1962, from 1975 to 1983, and from 1985 to 1989)
* European David (1973–1983)
* David Franco Cristaldi (1992 and 1993)
* David Luchino Visconti (1976–1995)
* David René Clair (1982–1987)
* Alitalia Award (1984–1991)
* Gold medal of the Municipality of Rome
* Gold medal of the Minister for Tourism and Entertainment

## Statistics[edit]

### Multiple prize-winning actors[edit]

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

Actor  | Leading  | Supporting  | Total

|
|
|

W | N  | W | N  | W | N
Margherita Buy | 5 | 13  | 2 | 3  | 7 | 16
Alberto Sordi | 7 | 8  | 0 | 0  | 8
Vittorio Gassman | 7 | 7  | 0 | 0  | 7
Sophia Loren | 7 | 7  | 0 | 0  | 7
Giancarlo Giannini | 4 | 7  | 1 | 3  | 5 | 10
Marcello Mastroianni | 5 | 6  | 0 | 0  | 6
Monica Vitti | 5 | 6  | 0 | 0  | 6
Marina Confalone | 1 | 1  | 4 | 5  | 6
Valerio Mastandrea | 2 | 8  | 2 | 5  | 4 | 13
Toni Servillo | 4 | 10  | 0 | 1  | 11
Elio Germano | 4 | 5  | 0 | 2  | 7
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | 4 | 6  | 0 | 0  | 6
Mariangela Melato | 4 | 5  | 0 | 0  | 5
Nino Manfredi | 4 | 4  | 0 | 0  | 4

## See also[edit]

* Italian entertainment awards

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Trionfante e sereno nella sua nudità, David, simbolo del Rinascimento" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 January 2022.
2. ^ a b "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)"

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David di Donatello.

* Official website (in Italian)
* Official website (in English)
* David di Donatello at IMDb
* David di Donatello 1956–2016: 60 Years of Awards. Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies (2016), 4 (2), Intellect, ISSN 2047-7368

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David di Donatello

Awards|

* Best Film
* Best Director
* Best New Director
* Best Screenplay
* Best Producer
* Best Actor
* Best Actress
* Best Supporting Actor
* Best Supporting Actress
* Best Cinematography
* Best Score
* Best Song
* Best Sets and Decorations
* Best Costumes
* Best Make-Up [it]
* Best Hair Design [it]
* Best Editing
* Best Sound
* Best Visual Effects [it]
* Best Documentary [it]
* Best Short Film
* Best Foreign Film
* David Special [it]

Discontinued awards|

* Best European Film
* Best Foreign Director
* Best Foreign Producer [it]
* Best Foreign Actor
* Best Foreign Actress
* Best Foreign Score
* Best Foreign Screenplay
* Best New Actor [it]
* Best New Actress [it]
* Luchino Visconti Award [it]

Ceremonies|

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Awards|

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Major film awards by countries

Africa|

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Asia|

| Central|

* Didor International Film Festival (Tajikistan)

|

East|

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