Giuseppe Tornatore’s latest film, Baarìa, was
near-unanimously voted Italy’s
candidate for next year’s foreign film Oscar. The jury voted 11 to 2 in favor of
Tornatore’s Sicilian epic, over Michele Placido’s 1968 student revolt movie Il
grande sogno, and Giulio Manfredonia’s mental health tragicomedy, Si può
fare.
‘I’m very happy but also intimidated…it’s a big
responsibility to defend the Italian colours because every country is
represented by interesting films; there is so much variety,’ said Tornatore,
who took home an Oscar in 1990 for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.
Baarìa made its
world debut at the recent Venice Film festival to high acclaim. It was the
first Italian film to open the festival in 20 years.
The big-budget movie chronicles the lives of three
generations in Tornatore’s Sicilian hometown of Bagheria. The film is ‘a film
about my own life, which I’d wanted to make for such a long time’, he told the
press.
The foreign film Oscar contenders will be selected on
February 2, ahead of the Oscar ceremony on March 7.
