Total Italian Academy Awards winners 1947-2021, by award category

Between 1947 and 2021, Italy has won many Oscars in different categories. The Oscar for best foreign-language film was awarded 13 times, while the award for best costume design was given 12 times. If we take into consideration only the category of best foreign-language film, Italy is still the country with the highest number of Oscars, before France with nine awards.

The award for best foreign film

Within the competition, the Oscar for best foreign film remains the most coveted award, but its impact in terms of revenues in North America and across other countries might vary a lot, depending on the movie. For instance, the 2001 Taiwanese movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ generated more box office revenue in the U.S. and Canada than it did in all other countries combined. By contrast, the Spanish drama ‘The Sea inside’ had over 36 million U.S. dollars revenues worldwide and only two million U.S. dollars revenue in the U.S. and Canada.

The Italian film industry

The number of Academy Awards does not always reflect the state of the national movie industry. Despite the awards of last four decades, the number of films produced in Italy has decreased in the period from 1980 to 1996. However, from the mid-nineties, the number of produced films has risen again to 201 films as of 2014. Over the last years, the Italian film industry is seeing also a fluctuating turnover. In 2018, its value reached about 684 million euros.