Italy on the Road to the Oscars®
A Showcase of Italian Creativity and Talent on This Year’s Journey to the Academy Awards
VIVA VERDI!: A Living Legacy, from Casa Verdi to the Academy Awards® Nomination
VIVA VERDI!, the documentary set inside Milan’s historic Casa Verdi, has reached a major international milestone. The original song Sweet Dreams of Joy, with music and lyrics by Nicholas Pike and performed by celebrated soprano [...]
Paolo Sorrentino’s La grazia: Italian Excellence on the Global Stage
La grazia, Paolo Sorrentino’s latest feature, opened in U.S. theaters in early December 2025, making the film eligible for Oscar consideration across multiple categories. Premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the film earned [...]
“Playing God” Makes Oscar® Shortlist: A Historic Milestone for Italian Animation
With its inclusion in the 2025 Oscar® shortlist for Best Animated Short Film, Playing God by Studio Croma Animation marks an unprecedented achievement: it is the first Italian animated short to reach this stage of [...]
“Joachim and the Apocalypse”: An Italian Visionary Film Bridging Theology, Technology, and Global Art Cinema
Joachim and the Apocalypse, the latest feature by Italian director Jordan River and produced by Delta Star Pictures, has recently drawn international attention following River’s audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The meeting [...]
How “Playing God” Took Flight: Domestic and International Strategies Behind a Global Festival Hit
Playing God (2024), produced by Studio Croma Animation, is an Italian-French co-production led by Italy. The animated short film has already achieved an impressive global footprint, with more than 160 official selections and 80 awards [...]
Interview with Attilio De Razza, producer of “Familia”
Attilio De Razza is one of the most established film producers in the Italian audiovisual industry. After an important chapter in comedy, television, and theatre production, he expanded his work into cinema, creating films that [...]
VIVA VERDI!: A Living Legacy, from Casa Verdi to the Academy Awards® Nomination
VIVA VERDI!, the documentary set inside Milan’s historic Casa Verdi, has reached a major international milestone. The original song Sweet Dreams of Joy, with music and lyrics by Nicholas Pike and performed by celebrated soprano Ana María Martínez, has been officially nominated for the Academy Awards® in the Best Original Song (Music and Lyrics) category. Carried by a classical soprano voice, Sweet Dreams of Joy brings a timeless vocal tradition into a category rarely associated with lyrical and classical expression, [...]
Paolo Sorrentino’s La grazia: Italian Excellence on the Global Stage
La grazia, Paolo Sorrentino’s latest feature, opened in U.S. theaters in early December 2025, making the film eligible for Oscar consideration across multiple categories. Premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the film earned a major accolade: the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, awarded to Toni Servillo. With La grazia, Sorrentino returns to political storytelling, offering an intimate portrait of the final months in office of the fictional President of the Italian Republic, Mariano De Santis. A man defined [...]
“Playing God” Makes Oscar® Shortlist: A Historic Milestone for Italian Animation
With its inclusion in the 2025 Oscar® shortlist for Best Animated Short Film, Playing God by Studio Croma Animation marks an unprecedented achievement: it is the first Italian animated short to reach this stage of the Academy Awards® selection. The recognition caps an extraordinary international trajectory, including 180 official festival selections, 92 awards, and key wins at Tribeca and Animayo — both Oscar®-qualifying festivals — along with its world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week and a Nastro d’Argento for Best [...]
“Joachim and the Apocalypse”: An Italian Visionary Film Bridging Theology, Technology, and Global Art Cinema
Joachim and the Apocalypse, the latest feature by Italian director Jordan River and produced by Delta Star Pictures, has recently drawn international attention following River’s audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The meeting came shortly after the announcement that the film has been submitted for consideration in multiple categories for the 2026 Academy Awards. Shot in ultra-high 12K resolution, the film offers an interpretation of the spiritual visions of the medieval thinker Joachim of Fiore, combining symbolic imagery [...]
How “Playing God” Took Flight: Domestic and International Strategies Behind a Global Festival Hit
Playing God (2024), produced by Studio Croma Animation, is an Italian-French co-production led by Italy. The animated short film has already achieved an impressive global footprint, with more than 160 official selections and 80 awards across major festivals worldwide. Sayonara Film oversaw the Italian distribution, while Autour de Minuit handled the international rollout, positioning the work as one of the most successful recent examples of Italian animation on the global stage. After speaking with producer Arianna Gheller and director Matteo [...]
Interview with Attilio De Razza, producer of “Familia”
Attilio De Razza is one of the most established film producers in the Italian audiovisual industry. After an important chapter in comedy, television, and theatre production, he expanded his work into cinema, creating films that range from mainstream comedy to auteur-driven projects. Among his most notable titles are Indivisible (2016), It’s the Law (2017), The Vice of Hope (2018), Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem (2019), Strangeness (2022), Comandante (2023), and Familia (2024), the latter selected this year to represent [...]
