Italy’s Oscar Contenders: Delpero, Perego, Guadagnino and Mancinelli in the shortlists

On December 17, the Academy unveiled the shortlists for ten categories for the 97th edition of the Oscars, giving Italy four reasons to cheer as projects with national ties advance in the race for the golden statuette. The categories announced include International Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Live Action Short Film, Original Score, and Original Song. On January 17, the Academy will narrow these shortlists, selecting only five nominees per category, with the Oscars ceremony set to take place on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Leading the Italian contingent is Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio“, which is in contention for Best International Feature Film. This mountain tale, shot in the dialect of the Val di Sole region, won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and secured a nomination for the Golden Globes. The next milestone for this compelling story will be January 17, when the Academy announces the final five nominees. “It’s a joy; we feel fortunate to be among the privileged who can continue on this journey,” said Delpero, a filmmaker from Bolzano whose roots trace back to the area where “Vermiglio“ was filmed. “Mountain folk know that reaching the summit requires taking one step at a time, and Maura Delpero is making a beautiful climb to the global stage,” added Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema, which co-produced the film with Cinedora. This marks the second consecutive year that a Rai film has reached the semifinals, following Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano in 2023.

Another Italian contender is the live-action short “Dovecote“ by Marco Perego. Shot in Venice inside the Giudecca prison, it stars his wife Zoe Saldaña alongside Marcello Fonte, Gaia Scodellaro, Marilena Anniballi, and some of the real inmates. Perego, born in 1979 in Salò, on Lake Garda, moved to New York at 21 to pursue his career as a visual artist. Now he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children, and this is a very busy moment for the family, with his wife engaged in her supporting role in the highly favored “Emilia Pérez” for the award season.

The title chosen for the 17-minute short film written by Marco Perego and Oscar winner Alex Dinelaris, “Dovecote“, refers to the cramped spaces where the story is set and filmed: “In the women’s prison of Giudecca, the 81 inmates sleep in rooms with 10 beds,” says Perego, who hopes his film will spark reflection on these invisible women. A competitor to “Dovecote“ is “Anuja“, an Indian short directed by Adam J. Graves, that tells the story of a girl from New Delhi, forced to spend her days sewing clothes instead of going to school. The music for this documentary was written by Italian composer Fabrizio Mancinelli, a member of the Academy since June. “It’s a small project, but one of those that makes you feel good, that reminds you why you do this work,” says Mancinelli, who is in his first Oscar campaign, but has composed for major studios like Disney, Universal, and Paramount, and conducted the orchestra for Kris Bowers on “Green Book”, “The Color Purple”, and “Bob Marley: One Love.”

Renowned director Luca Guadagnino is in the running for the Oscars in the categories of Best Original Score and Best Original Song for his film “Challengers.”