Italy has picked Francesco Costabile’s dark melodrama Familia as its Oscar contender for the 2026 Academy Awards in the best international feature film category.
Familia is based on Luigi Celeste’s biographical memoir about his youth as a far-right militant and about the legacy of his toxic, violent upbringing at the hands of his criminal father. The film premiered in the Horizons sidebar of the Venice Film Festival last year, winning the best actor prize for star Francesco Gheghi, who plays Luigi.
Barbara Ronchi and Francesco Di Leva co-star. Di Leva won Italy’s David di Donatello award, the local version of the Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Attilio de Razza and Nicola Picone produced Familia for Rome-based Tramp Limited, with coproducers Nicola Giuliano at Indigo Film and Pierpaolo Verga at O’Groove, and in association with Medusa Film. True Colours is handling international sales.
Familia was picked from among 24 shortlisted candidates as the Italian Oscar entry. Among its competitors were Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Below the Clouds, Pietro Marcello’s period biopic Duse, and Leonardo Di Costanzo’s crime drama Elisa.
Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, which opened the Venice Film Festival this year, did not qualify for the Oscar race as it won’t release in Italy until early January. For Italy, only films released between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025 are considered eligible for submission for next year’s Oscar race.
Sorrentino is the last Italian director to win the best international feature Oscar, taking home the trophy in 2014 for The Great Beauty. Italy’s last Oscar nomination was in 2024 for Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano. Last year’s submission, Maura Delpero’s World War 2 drama Vermiglio, was shortlisted but not nominated.
The U.S. Academy will announce the first shortlist of 15 films in contention for the 2026 best international feature Oscar on Dec. 16. The final nominations will be announced on Jan. 22. The 98th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026.