Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio took home Best Film and Director at the 70th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening, in a historic win for a female director.
Delpero is the first woman to win the David di Donatello Best Director prize in the history of the awards, and only the third female filmmaker to win Best Film.
The film picked up seven David di Donatellos in total which also included Best Original Screenplay, Casting, Producer, Cinematography and Sound.
Set in a remote mountain village in 1944, Vermiglio revolves around a family whose life is disrupted by the arrival of a deserted soldier. The feature world premiered in Venice where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and went on to be Italy’s 2025 Oscars submission.
It was an historically strong night for female directors.
Other big winners included Italian actress and singer-songwriter Margherita Vicario who won Best First Film, Composer and Song for feature directorial Gloria.
The film, which debuted in the Berlin in 2024, is set in Venice at the end of the 1700s and revolves around an orphanage and music conservatory for girls, where the young charges are trained to the highest standard but denied the right to shine in the wider world.
Valeria Golino’s The Art of Joy also performed well clinching Best Actress (Tecla Insolia), Supporting Actress (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Adapted Screenplay.
The drama follows a woman born into modest circumstances in Sicily in 1900, who goes on to navigate life in a convent, and then carves herself out a place in aristocratic household achieving happiness and emancipation in the process. It debuted as a Special Screening in Cannes.
A big winner on the craft side was Gianluca Jodice’s French-language drama The Flood, starring Guillaume Canet and Mélanie Laurent as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The historical drama won Best Art Direction, Costumes, Make-up and Best Hair.
The ceremony unfolding in Theater 5 of Rome’s Cinecittà studios kicked off just hours after the beginning of the papal conclave in the Vatican City on the other side of the city, to decide the next head of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis.
Despite recent a spike in popularity for Edward Berger’s timely drama Conclave, the film lost out to Sean Baker’s Anora in the Best International Film category.
In other highlights Timothée Chalamet, who touched down in Rome with Kylie Jenner and his father, received a Special David Award for Cinematic Excellence, alongside Italian actress Ornella Muti.
Asked on stage about his ties to Italy through Luca Guadagnino, who cast him in his breakout role in Call Me By Your Name, Chalamet replied: “Luca is probably the most important person in my career.”
He went on to joke that he if had not gone into acting he would have racked up a “better scoring” record than Italian soccer legend Francesco Totti.
Further honoraries included director Director Pupi Avati, who was feted with a Career Achievement Prize, while Monica Bellucci presented Giuseppe Tornatore with a Special Cinecittà Prize marking the David di Donatello’s 70th edition.
The David di Donatello prize for the most viewed Italian film went to Ferzan Ozpetek’s Diamanti.
The Full List of Winners
Best FilmVermiglio, Maura Delpero
Best DirectorMaura Delpero, Vermiglio
Best Directorial DebutGloria!, Margherita Vicario
Best Original ScreenplayVermiglio, Maura Delpero
Best Adapted ScreenplayThe Art of Joy, Valeria Golino, Francesca Marciano, Valia Santella, Luca Infascelli, Stefano Sardo
Best ProducerVermiglio, Francesca Andreoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Santiago Fondevila Sancet, Maura Delpero for cinedora, with Rai Cinema, in collaboration with charades (France), Versus (Belgium)
Best ActressThe Art Of Joy, Tecla Insolia
Best ActorThe Great Ambition, Elio Germano
Best Supporting ActressThe Art of Joy, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Best Supporting ActorFamilia, Francesco di Leva
Best CastingVermiglio, Stefania Rodà, Maurilio Mangano
Best CinematographyVermiglio, Mikhail Krichman
Best ComposerGloria!, Margherita Vicario, Davide Pavanello, Iddu Colapesce
Best Original SongGloria! Aria!
Best Art DirectionThe Flood, Tonino Zera, Maria Grazia Schirripa, Carlotta Desmann
Best CostumesThe Flood, Massimo Cantini Parrini
Best Make-upThe Flood, Alessandra Vita, Valentina VIsintin
Best HairThe Flood, Aldo Signoretti, Domingo Santoro
Best EditingThe Great Ambition, Jacopo Quadri
Best SoundVermiglio, Dana Farzanehpour, Hervé Guyader, Hervé Guyader, Emmanuel de Boisseau
Best Special EffectsNaples To New York, Victor Perez
Best DocumentaryUkrainian Whispers, Francesca Mannocchi
Best International PictureAnora, Sean Baker
Best ShortDomenica Sera, Matteo Tortone
Youth PrizeNaples To New York, Gabriele Salvatores
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