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Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Italy: Sorrentino's The Hand of God gets Oscar nomination

Sorrentino is in the running for a second Oscar.

The Hand of God by Italian film director Paolo Sorrentino has been nominated for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday.

The coming-of-age film, whose original Italian title is È stata la mano di Dio, is now among the five hopefuls vying for a prize in the academy's best international feature movie category.

The news means that the 51-year-old Neapolitan director has a chance of bringing home a second Academy Award on 27 March, eight years after his movie The Great Beauty won an Oscar in 2013.

Telling the story of a teenage boy in Naples in the 1980s, Sorrentino's largely autobiographical film stars Filippo ScottiToni Servillo and Teresa Saponangelo.

The story spans several years from the arrival of Diego Maradona to play for Napoli to the team's first Italian title success, during which time the young boy has to cope with the death of his parents.

Sorrentino's movie was released in Italian cinemas in November, after wining the Grand Jury Silver Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, and has been available to stream on Netflix since December.

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Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
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