On Oscar night, 4 March, we will discover whether “ Call me by your name” by Luca Guadagnino with its four nominations – best picture, best adapted screenplay, best actor in a leading role, best music (original song) – will enter into the history of the Academy Awards.
The fact that an Italian film has managed to escape from the “best foreign language film” box is an excellent sign and it is no surprise that it is directed by Guadagnino, whose movies have always been highly esteemed abroad.
In this issue Elisabetta Brunella explains the reasons for this “internationality”, identifying the film’s main strengths:
“Call me by your name” is a co-production, it can count on an international distribution structure, an international cast and on that element that Armie Hammer (Oliver in the film), has defined as “the third protagonist”.
This is the Italy that the sophisticated talent of Guadagnino evokes rather than describes, choosing not to represent it through icons such as Venice or Florence, Naples or Rome, but through the so Cremasco countryside in Lombardy.

Apart from Guadagnino, there is also a lot of expectation surrounding another Italian name, Alessandra Querzola, nominated for the production design of the sets for “Blade Runner 2049”, confirming the great tradition of professionalism of our technicians.
Finally, continuing to play with the metaphor, in this run-up to the Oscars we can spot another protagonist: the Venice Film Festival.
The discreet love story between Venice and Hollywood has been going on for a few years now with films often winning the famous little statue after passing though the Lido.
This time, with the thirteen nominations for “The Shape of Water”, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice 2017, it appears that we are actually heading for a wedding ceremony o ciated over by the director, Alberto Barbera, as the Festival’s already high international prestige continues to grow.