Mattarella awards David

(ANSA) - Rome, April 18 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday conferred three special David di Donatello awards on the 60th anniversary of the yearly Academy of Italian Cinema (ACI) film awards ceremony, which is being held tonight at the De Paolis studio in Rome.
    The three special awards went to actress Gina Lollobrigida and directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
    Mattarella called them "symbols of Italian cinema" and expressed "the country's gratitude" towards them. Lollobrigida, 88, was one of the highest.profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, and went on to second careers as a photojournalist and sculptor.
    The Taviani brothers, also in their late 80s, have won top European prizes including the Palme D'Or at Cannes and the Golden Bear in Berlin during their long and illustrious joint career.
    The David di Donatello candidates traditionally visit the president on the day of the awards ceremony, akin to Italy's Oscars. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Italian cinema is making a comeback, with 46% of market share in terms of tickets sold, and that the government is getting behind the domestic film industry.
    "We increased resources for the international tax credit, which went from nine million euros in 2013 to 13 million in 2014 and 26 million in 2015," Franceschini said in a message on the occasion of the awards ceremony.
    He added a government's film industry bill is now before the Senate, and that it wants a new law passed this year because the current one dates back to 1949.