Gabriele Muccino's local hit The Last Kiss (L'Ultimo Bacio) picked up five awards at the David di Donatello awards, Italy's equivalent to the Oscars, including the prestigious Best Director prize. The film, with local box office receipts in excess of $8.5m, is one of a handful of Italian pictures credited with boosting the domestic market over the last months.

In the spirit of this year's Academy Awards, other major prizes were evenly split between the two other main contenders: Nanni Morettis The Son's Room (La Stanza Del Figlio) which was voted Best Film and Marco Tullio Giordana's The Hundred Steps.

Luigi Lo Cascio won the Best Actor award for his performance as a young man who stands up to the Mafia in The Hundred Steps, while Best Actress went to Laura Morante, who portrays a grieving mother in Moretti's film.

Other awards went to Stefania Sandrelli, (Best Supporting Actress in The Last Kiss), Tony Sperandeo (Best Supporting Actor in The Hundred Steps), Best Original Screenplay to The Hundred Steps, and Best Original Music Score to The Son's Room

The David di Donatello awards in full

Film: The Son's Room
Director: Gabriele Muccino, The Last Kiss
Debuting director: Alex Infascelli, Almost Blue
Producer: Domenico Procacci, The Last Kiss
Actor: Luigi Lo Cascio, The Hundred Steps
Actress: Laura Morante, The Son's Room
Supporting actor: Tony Sperandeo, The Hundred Steps
Supporting actress: Stefania Sandrelli, The Last Kiss
Screenplay: Claudio Fava, Monica Zappelli, Marco Tullio Giordana, The Hundred Steps
Cinematography: Lajos Koltai, Malena
Music: Nicola Piovani, The Son's Room
Art direction: Luciano Ricceri, Unfair Competition
Costumes: Elisabetta Montaldo, The Hundred Steps
Editing: Claudio Di Mauro, The Last Kiss
Sound: Gaetano Carito, The Last Kiss
Foreign film: The Taste of Others
David Scuola Award: The Hundred Steps
Career awards: Tony Curtis, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Martin Scorsese.