For once the Italian Academy and the critics seem to agree: Giuseppe Tornatore’s immigrant noir La sconosciuta (The Unknown or The Unknown Woman) is the best film of the year. This week it won the Best Film and Best Director prizes, amongst others, at the David di Donatello Awards given by the Italian Cinema Academy, while the Italian critics had earlier announced Tornatore as the winner of their Nastro d’Argento or Silver Ribbon for Best Director of an Italian Film (they have no Best Film category). At both award ceremonies, actor Kim Rossi Stuart was crowned Best New Director for his directorial debut Anche libero va bene (Along the Ridge) and Ambra Angiolini won the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Ferzan Ozpetek’s ensemble drama Saturno contro (Saturn in Opposition).

The German national film prizes, the Lolas, were awarded yesterday in Berlin. The lavish big-budget adaptation Perfume: The Story of a Murderer from Tom Tykwer went head-to-head with the intimate prison drama Vier Minuten (Four Minutes) from Chris Kraus; both films went in with eight nominations each. Perfume finally won in six categories, but rival Vier Minuten went home with the top Golden Best Film prize and the Best Actress award for Monica Bleibtreu (Moritz's mother). Josef Bierbichler was named Best Actor for his role in the African swindle drama Winterreise (its sole nomination), while upcoming director Marcus H. Rosenmüller was named Best Director for his comedy Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot (Grave Decisions).