Paolo Virzì's Human Capital
(Il Capitale Umano) was named Wednesday as Italy's candidate for
the best foreign film Oscar at next year's Academy Awards.
Virzì will know if his movie has made the Academy's
shortlist for the award on January 15.
The film is aiming to repeat the success of Paolo
Sorrentino's The Great Beauty this year.
Human Capital, dubbed a "neo-noir", was named best film at
this year's David di Donatello awards, the Italian Oscars,
splitting top honours with The Great Beauty.
Based on the American novel Human Capital by Stephen
Amidon, the film relocates from Connecticut to the affluent
Brianza area north of Milan and intertwines the destinies of two
families after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep on the
night before Christmas Eve.
Top Italian actor Fabrizio Bentivoglio plays a lead role,
as does Carla Bruni's elder actor sister, Valeria
Bruni-Tedeschi, who won the David for best actress.
The film garnered 7.5 points on the Internet Movie Database
(IMDb) while on Rotten Tomatoes Elise Nakhnikian of Slant
Magazine called it a "cleverly told mystery"
Human Capital competed at the Tribeca Film Festival and
has been a hit at the Italian box office, scoring around $7.5
million
It will be released in the US via Film Movement.
Hearing the news, Virzì said "I am very honoured.
"It's a great responsibility to represent our country in
such a complicated and lively moment for our cinema," he added.
Italy's Oscar shortlist included Alice Rohrwacher's The
Wonders, Francesco Munzi's Black Souls, Ferzan Ozpetek's Fasten
Your Seatbelts, Edoardo Winspeare's Quiet Bliss, the Manetti
Bros.' Song e' Napule and Carlo Verdone's Sotto una Buona
Stella.
The selection panel included directors Gianni Amelio and
Gabriele Salvatores, producers Tommaso Arrighi and Angelo
Barbagallo, and distributor Barbara Salabe among other industry
figures.
In March The Great Beauty gave Italy its eleventh
best-film Oscar win in history, the most ever for any country in
the category.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said the win was a mark of
"Italian pride," in a tweet, reflecting the front page of every
national daily.
The prize put Italy two statuettes ahead of France's nine
foreign-Oscar wins, 15 years after Italy's last Academy Award
for Roberto Benigni's Holocaust tragicomedy Life Is
Beautiful.
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