Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio got two Oscar nominations for costumes and make-up Monday while Laura Pausini's 'Io sì' (Seen) from the latest Sophia Loren film got a nod for best song.
Pinocchio was nominated for the costumes by Italy's Massimo
Cantini Parrini and make-up by Briton Mark Coulier, an Oscar
winner for The Iron Lady and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well
as by Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti.
Pinocchio was co-written, directed and co-produced by Garrone,
and based on the 1883 classic book The Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi. The film stars child actor Federico Ielapi as
the title character, Roberto Benigni as Geppetto, the late Gigi
Proietti as Mangiafuoco, Rocco Papaleo and Massimo Ceccherini as
The Cat and the Fox, and Marine Vacth as the adult Fairy with
Turquoise Hair.
This was great comedian and comic actor Proietti's final
appearance before his death in November 2020, though he made a
posthumous appearance in the film 'Io sono Babbo Natale' (I'm
Father Christmas). Pinocchio was a passion project for Garrone,
who drew the first storyboard of the story at the age of six.
It is the second live-action Pinocchio film to star comic great
and Life Is Beautiful Oscar winner Benigni, following the 2002
adaptation, and the second to star Papaleo, after the 2012
animated film.
Pinocchio was met with positive reviews from critics. It
received 15 nominations at the 2020 David di Donatello Awards,
Italy's Oscars, winning five: Best Sets and Decorations, Best
Costumes, Best Makeup, Best Hair Design and Best Visual Effects.
Pausini was nominated for the best song Oscar, for 'Io sì'
(Seen), which featured in The Life Ahead, Sophia Loren's latest
film directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. The song recently won
the Golden Globe.
In the film Loren plays Madam Rosa, a former prostitute and
Holocaust survivor who provides childcare for the children of
"working women." After a 12-year old Senegalese street kid robs
her, she reluctantly agrees to take him in. They develop a deep
bond and she tries to help him find his way in life.
Gianfranco Rosi's 'Notturno' (Nocturne) documentary about
refugee dramas in war zones failed to make the Oscar nominations
list.
Pausini said "a song in Italian nominated for an Oscar!!! I'm so
honoured to represent Italy in one of the most important
ceremonies of the global entertainment industry".
She said "I still don't believe it. Being able to be part of
such a special project like The Life Ahead with #EdoardoPonti
and #SophiaLoren has been one of the greatest presents life
could have given me. And now knowing I'm nominated for the Oscar
goes beyond any desire or expectation I could have dreamed of.
"I want to thank the Academy for having welcomed 'Io sì' (Seen)
and the message it carries with it. Congratulations to Dianne
Warren (who co-wrote the song along with Pausini and Niccolò
Agliardi), it was an incredible experience working together.
Thanks to Bonnie Greenberg and Niccolò Agliardi. Thanks to
Palomar Production and Netflix".
Pausini, 46, born at Faenza near Ravenna, is Italy's most
successful international female singer-songwriter, and has an
unrivalled place in the Latin and Spanish market for a
foreigner.
She has earned the first and third place at the Sanremo Music
Festival, two "Lunezia Awards", eighteen Wind Music Awards, four
awards at the Festivalbar, seven Telegatti, and an MTV Italian
Music Award. Internationally, she has won four awards at the
Viña del Mar International Song Festival, four Lo Nuestro
Awards, four Latin Grammy Awards, a Billboard Latin Music Award,
six World Music Awards, and has received a nomination at the
Emmy Awards. In 2006, she also became the first Italian female
artist to win a Grammy Award, receiving the accolade for Best
Latin Pop Album for the record Escucha.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said "today is a happy day
for Italian cinema: all the best to Laura Pausini and Matteo
Garrone".
He said the nominations "pay homage to our cinema industry, able
to express the creative genius, imagination and originality
which are its hallmarks on the international scene".
Canti Parrini, the PInocchio costume designer, said "I am
ecstatic, surprised, happy and overcome by the good wishes of
people who have been calling me."
The Oscars will be awarded on April 25.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
