Palace Cinemas and Bulgari have announced compelling crime drama Dogman as the winner of this year’s Bvlgari Critics’ Choice Award as part of the 19th edition of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival. The festival jury said: "After a lively, invigorating discussion, we made our choice. We awarded the prize to Matteo Garrone's outstanding film, Dogman, for its impeccably realised vision and strong performances, particularly from Marcello Fonte as the tragic central character.”
The jury, led by film writer Philippa Hawker and including SBS Italian's Executive Producer Magica Fossati, also commended "Alice Rohrwacher's Happy As Lazzaro, a work of audacity and originality, a potent combination of the miraculous and the everyday."
There were six films running for the Award apart from Dogman and Happy as Lazzaro: Loro by Paolo Sorrentino, Love and Bullets by Manetti Bros, Daughter of Mine by Laura Bispuri and Euphoria by Valeria Golino.
Lavazza Italian Film Festival (LIFF) inaugurated last year the Bvlgari Critics' Choice Award - a cash prize from Palace Cinemas of AUD$10,000 and a custom-designed award by Bvlgari.
