Italy chooses "Notturno" (Plus Italy's robust Oscar history)

by Nathaniel R

Italy has chosen Gianfranco Rosi's highly acclaimed documentary Notturno (which we reviewed at the AFI fest) to represent them at the Oscars from 25 Italian films that were submitted for consideration. Italy previously submitted his 2016 documentary Fire at Sea (which was not nominated for International Film but did score in Documentary Feature). Perhaps emboldened by Honeyland's double nomination last season for Best Documentary and Best International Film, more countries than usual have submitted documentaries this year hoping to repeat that historic double. That said, only three docs have ever been nominated in this particular category: Waltz with Bashir, The Missing Picture, and Honeyland.

As we've seen in past Oscar seasons, Italy skipping over The Life Ahead for their submission entry is not at all a deterrent for Sophia Loren's Best Actress campaign. Movie stars and world famous directors operate by different rules, if you know what we mean...

Skipping over their current film for this particular honor, rarely dilutes its profile. Examples are numerous in Oscar history of non-English language films scoring random nominations even when their home country didn't submit them. As long as the actor was a movie star or the director was famous that is.

ITALY'S OSCAR STATS AND MOST OSCAR-LOVED PLAYERS AFTER THE JUMP

Submitting since 1956 (the very first year of the competition)
64 Total Submissions 
28 Nominations (and 1 Additional Finalist)
11 Wins (#1 of all countries for wins)
3 Honorary Oscars (before the category existed)

Italy has the most wins and the second most nominations in the Best International Film category. The longest they've ever gone without nominations is a 7 year drought (2006-2012)

BEFORE THE OSCAR CATEGORY EXISTED

• Shoeshine (1947) Honorary Oscar
• The Bicycle Thief (1949) Honorary Oscar
• Walls of Malapaga (1950) Honorary Oscar

KEY SUBMISSIONS

• La Strada (1956) Winner
• Nights of Cabiria (1957) Winner
• Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) Nominee
• The Great War (1959) Nominee
• Kapò (1960) Nominee

• La Notte (1961) -Michelangelo Antonioni's critically adored film ended Italy's perfect nomination streak at the beginning of the category's existence
• Four Days of Naples (1962) Nominee
• 8 1/2  (1963) Winner
• Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1964) Winner
• Marriage Italian-Style (1965) Nominee
• Battle of Algiers (1966) Nominee
• The Girl with the Pistol (1968) Nominee

• Fellini Satyricon (1969) - This film marked the first time Federico Fellini had an unsuccessful Oscar submission. But define "unsuccessful" because the film still snagged a lone Oscar nomination for Best Director the following year! This also happened with City of God 30+ years later. To date it has never happened in the same Oscar year suggesting that "snubs" really motivate the director's branch. You could argue that that helped Almodóvar too with Talk to Her in 2002 though in his case the 'snub' was Spain not even submitting his film.
• Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Winner
• The Garden of the Fitzi-Continis (1971) Winner
• Amarcord (1974) Winner
• Scent of a Woman (1975) Nominee

• Seven Beauties (1976) Nominee - Lina Wertmuller was the first female director Italy submitted and the first woman ever nominated as Best Director by the Academy
• A Special Day (1977) Nominee
• Viva Italia (1978) Nominee
• To Forget Venice (1979) Nominee -The last of a six consecutive year nomination run, the longest run from any country in this category
• Three Brothers (1981) Nominee
• The Family (1987) Nominee 
• Cinema Paradiso (1989) Winner
• Open Doors (1990) Nominee
• Mediterraneo (1991) Winner
• The Starmaker (1995) Nominee

• Life is Beautiful (1998) Winner
• The Son's Room (2001)  -A Palme D'Or win in Cannes doesn't guarantee an Oscar nomination in International Film. Even if they love your country's cinema! They passed on this Nanni Moretto drama
• Don't Tell (2005) Nominee
• The Unknown Woman (2007) - Finalist
• Gomorrah (2008) - Despite Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and BAFTA nominations in their parallel "foreign" categories, plus a Cannes Grand Jury prize this famous mafia film was passed over
• The Great Beauty (2013) Winner

Most Oscar-Honored Italian Artists 

Federico Fellini and Jeanne Moreau and Cannes in 1960

1. Federico Fellini (12 Oscar nominations. Plus an Honorary Award. Plus 4 nominations and 4 wins in the Best International Film category*) 
2. Dante Ferretti (10 nominations across Art Direction and Costume Design, plus 3 wins for Art Direction)
3. Milena Canonero (9 nominations and 4 wins in Costume Design)
4. Francesca Lo Schiavo (8 nominations and 3 wins for Art Direction... shared with Ferretti each time)
5. Frank Capra (6 nominations and 3 wins for Best Director)
6. Ennio Morricone (6 nominations and 1 win for Score. Plus an Honorary Award)
7. Vittorio de Sica (1 nomination for acting. Plus 5 nominations and 4 wins in the Best International Film category*)
8. Piero Gherardi (6 nominations, from a combo of Art Direction and Costume Design, and 2 wins in Costume Design)
9. Tony Gaudio (6 noms and 1 win in Cinematography)
10. [TIE] Vittorio Nino Novarese and Danilo Donati (both had 5 noms and 2 wins in Costume Design - not together)
11. Piero Tosi (5 nominations in Costume Design plus an Honorary Award)
12. Joseph A Valentine (5 noms and 1 win in Cinematography)
13. Vittorio Storaro (4 noms and 3 wins in Cinematography)
14. [TIE] 4 nominations and 2 wins each: Dario Simoni (Art Direction) and Bernardo Bertolucci (2 nominations from Directing and 2 from writing and he won both of those categories for The Last Emperor), and Pietro Scalia (Editing)
15. [TIE] 4 nominations each: Sergio Amidei (Screenplay) and Tullio Pinelli (Screenplay)
16. Giorgio Moroder (3 nominations and 3 wins from Music categories)
17. Roberto Benigni (3 nominations and 1 win in multiple categories ... plus a nom/win* in the foreign film category)
    
    
    
    
18. Sophia Loren (2 nominations, 1 win. Plus an Honorary Oscar)
19. [TIE] 2 nominations plus an Honorary Award each: Lina Wertmuller (Writer/Director) and Michelangelo Antonioni (Writer/Director) 
20. [TIE] 3 nominations and 1 win each: Luciana Arrighi (Art Direction), Gabriella Pescussi (Costume Design), Dario Marianelli (Score)
21. [TIE] 3 nominations each: Marcello Mastroianni (Best Actor - the most Oscar nominations for non-English language acting),  Sol Polito (Cinematography), and Aldo Signoretti (Makeup), Ennio Flaiano (Screenplay), Gillo Pontecorvo (Director, Screenplay, Foreign Film*), Furio Scarpelli (Screenplay), Cesar Zavattini (Screenplay)
22. [TIE] 2 nominations and 1 win each: Anna Magnani (Best Actress), Bruno Cesari and Ferdinando Scarfiotti (Art Direction), Carlo Ponti (Best Picture nomination and Best Foreign Language Film Win for La Strada) 
23. [TIE] 2 nominations each: Vincent Gardenia (Best Supporting Actor), Franco Zeffirelli (1 each from Art Direction and Best Director), Dante Spinotti (Cinematography), Maurizio Millenotti (Costume Design), Vittorio Sodano (Makeup), Daniele Amfitheatrof (Score), Riz Ortolani (Best Song), Emanuele Luzzati (Short Film), Massimo Troisi (1 each from Actor and Screenplay), Mario Moniclli (Screenplay)

* we realize that international film nominations don't technically belong to the director but we think they should so we include it in these lists.

Most Frequently Submitted Directors in Foreign Film 

1. Federico Fellini (7 submissions - 4 nominees which were all winners)
2. Vittorio de Sica (5 submissions sort of - 2 honoraries before the categories, plus 3 submissions. All 3 were nominated and 2 of them won)
3. Mario Monicelli (4 submissions - all of which were nominated)
4. Gianni Amelio (4 submissions - 1 nominated film)
5. Giussepe Tornatore (3 submissions -1 nominated and winning film, 1 finalist)
6. Ettore Scola (3 submissions - 2 nominated films)
7. Marco Bellochio (3 submissions - none were nominated)
8. [TIE] Gillo Pontecorvo and Dino Risi (each had 2 submissions, both of which were nominated)
9. [TIE] Roberto Benigni, and Gabriele Salvatores (each had 2 submissions, 1 of which was nominated AND won)
10. [TIE] Lina Wertmuller and Nanni Loy (both had 2 submissions, 1 of which was nominated)
11. [TIE]  Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, Paolo Virzi, and Matteo Garrone (2 submissions each - neither were nominated)
12. ....AND Gianfranco Rosi (2 submissions, his latest pending... will it be nominated?)

Comments

[Peggy Sue]

Good call, Italy. Life Ahead would have been the perfect choice if we were in the 90s.

[ken s]

City of God was also snubbed and its director nominated the next year.

Also, Mario Monicelli, besides directing 4 nominated films, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 1964 for The Organizer for a total of 5 nominations. Sadly, he never won, but Big Deal on Madonna Street and The Organizers are all-time classics and he should have won twice.

[cal roth]

True story: I haven't really got Antonioni until I was urged to see his films again after Don Draper tells Bobbie Barrett he likes La Notte. Now I love Antonioni.

[Edward L.]

Great stats about Italy's Oscar record! I'd love to see them return to the International Feature Film category. It's been seven years since The Great Beauty!

[Dan Humphrey]

Kind of shocking that Visconti never made any headway. You'd think THE LEOPARD, ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, THE INNOCENT or SOMETHING would have gotten through.

[Abe]

Notturno is an interesting choice. It seems like there are a LOT of documentaries being submitted this year for Best International Feature. I'd be surprised to see more than one nominated, but that certainly seems possible at this point.

[JJ]

The stand-alone-subject nature of documentary filmmaking is going to be important to keeping the art of cinema alive in the next few years, now that most narrative filmmakers are using television limited series much more frequently. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a doc Best Picture nominee soon.

[Charlie]

@JJ that's an excellent observation. After Foreign and Animation, Documentary is now the last "sub" genre remaining to crack the BP field.

[Michael R]

Saw The Life Ahead and was rather underwhelmed. Loren isborderline supporting.

[RicardoA]

Sorry Nathaniel, but Fellini Satyricon was submitted (and not nominated) in 1969, and Fellini was nominated for best director the year after,,, just like City of God

[NATHANIEL R]

Ricardo -- you're right. y'all keep me on my toes. Okay so i had to reword it. Turns out it has literally never happened in the same awards year which means that the director's branch needs to get mad about a 'snub' for it to happen ;)

JJ -- what Charlie said. In the past i'd assumed that this was never going to happen (i'm not a fan of documentaries in regular categories because i think it's apples and oranges... documentaries usually have entirely different goals and artistic tools than narrative art. whereas animated and foreign features are basically exactly the same as regular features in what they're doing.) but you're right that it feels more likely now with "limited series" becoming such a hot thing for directors.

[Dl]

They haven't been nominated in the category since 2013, and, considering the choice, they really don't want to.

[PP]

We (italians) had a LOT of better movies than Notturno this year. Hidden Away, The Macaluso Sisters, Bad Tales. Maybe Notturno has the most international appeal.

Fun fact: Rosi is not very much loved by Italian cinephiles. They consider his work as "fake" and pander (don't if is the right term)