Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria, a complex family saga that spans the lives of three generations of a Sicilian family, will represent Italy in its bid for the Foreign Oscar.

Produced by Medusa for $30-35m, the film was selected over four other candidates - Marco Bellocchio’s Vincere, Michele Placdio’s Il Grande Sogno Marco Risi’s Fortapasc, , and Giulio Manfredonia’s Si Puo Fare about an unemployed man who finds himself managing a cooperative of mental patients.

Tornatore won the foreign-language Oscar for Cinema Paradiso in 1989 and was shortlisted in 1995 and 1996. In response to his latest nomination, he said: “Baaria is the other face of Cinema Paradiso…Let’s hope that brings it a touch of luck.”

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