David di Donatello

Not to be confused with David (Donatello, marble) or David (Donatello, bronze).

David di Donatello Awards
Current: 69th David di Donatello
A David di Donatello awarded in 2014
Awarded for	The best of Italian and foreign motion picture productions
Date	1955; 70 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).^[2] There are 26 award categories, as of 2023. The industry-voted awards are considered the Italian equivalent of the American Academy Awards.^[3]

History

The Italian studio complex Cinecittà, where the David di Donatello award ceremony has been held several times.

The David di Donatello film awards were founded in 1955 by the founding president of AGIS (Italian General Association for Show Business), businessman Italo Gemini, in order to honour the best of each year's Italian and foreign films. It was first awarded in Rome on 5 July 1956.^[4]

The David di Donatello film awards follow the same criteria as the American Academy Awards.^[3]

Sophia Loren, Alberto Sordi and Charlton Heston, David di Donatello 1961

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. The Donatellos are awarded by people within the film industry, including actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and technicians.^[5]

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.^[6]

The founding organization, now called the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, works in concert with and thanks to the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism.^[6]

The prizes are awarded primarily to Italian films, with a category dedicated to foreign-language films.

Presidents

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

The following is a list of presidents of the Academy of Italian Cinema:^[6]

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[7]	2018	current	First woman to hold the office

† Died in office.

Trophy

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.^[5]

The 1956 David by Bulgari, awarded to Gina Lollobrigida for Beautiful but Dangerous, was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2013.^[8]

Award categories

• 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 Original Song
• David di Donatello for Best Set Designer
• David di Donatello for Best Costumes
• David di Donatello for Best Make-up
• David di Donatello for Best Hairstyling
• 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

• 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

Multiple prize-winning actors

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.^[9][10]

  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

• Italian entertainment awards
• List of film awards

References

1. "Trionfante e sereno nella sua nudità, David, simbolo del Rinascimento" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 January 2022.
2. Daniele Dottorini. "Festival e premi cinematografici" [Film festivals and awards] (in Italian). Treccani. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
3. "Oscar's Foreign Cousins". Variety. Variety Media. 9 December 1998. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
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. "La storia dei David di Donatello dal 1955 a oggi" [The history of the David di Donatello from 1955 to today] (in Italian). Elle Magazine. 2 May 2024.
6. "History of the David Di Donatello AWARDS". daviddidonatello.it. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
7. D'Angelo, Francesca (4 May 2024). "David di Donatello 2024: Io capitano Miglior film, ma a sbancare è Paola Cortellesi". Elle. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
8. "Gold and malachite 'David'". Sotheby's.
9. "David di Donatello: La Storia" (in Italian). rai.it. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
10. "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

• 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