‘The Eight Mountains’ Scores Top Honor at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent “The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards.
Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound. Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang.
The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps. “It’s pretty incredible,” commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. “Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie.” “Thank you for this declaration of love,” added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. “We love Italy very much.
This is so beautiful.” The “Eight Mountains” victory was not a clean sweep at Italy’s top film prizes. Veteran auteur Marco Bellocchio’s “Exterior Night,” a limited TV series about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades – that played in Italian cinemas before airing on TV – scored a David for Bellocchio, who won best director.
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