Sept. 10 – The first Italian to win an Oscar was Vittorio De Sica in 1947 for Showshine – one of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism. Last March, after 15 years the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film came back to Italy thanks to Paolo Sorrentino and his “The Great Beauty,” a film starring Tony Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Isabella Ferrari, Iaia Forte and Carlo Buccirosso. In total, there are 13 Italian movies that won the Academy Award. And now all these films – from Shoeshine to Life is Beautiful, passing by The Bicycle Thief, Otto e mezzo, Mediterranean, and Cinema Paradiso – will be screened at the Italian Institute of Culture in Barcelona. September 15-19, the Institute (located at Ptge. Méndez Vigo, 5) hosts “Italy’s Oscars,” screening for the public every Italian film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. From 1948 to date, 13 films by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Gabriele Salvatores, Roberto Benigni, and Paolo Sorrentino received this honor.
