David di Donatello 2025: Orlando Faiola's view on the 70th edition

The 70th edition of the David di Donatello Awards, which took place on May 7, 2025 live on Rai Uno, was a memorable evening. The ceremony was hosted by the couple formed by Elena Sofia Ricci and Mika, who accompanied the audience throughout an evening of great emotions, triumphs and historic firsts. Above all, that of Maura Delpero , who with Vermiglio won eight statuettes, including Best Film and Best Director - thus becoming the first woman to win as best director in the history of the David.

An event that was able to combine spectacle, commitment and celebration of Italian cinema, but also beauty and atmosphere, captured in a powerful and discreet way by the sensitive lens of Orlando Faiola , a photographer from Ischia accredited for this edition of the festival.

Faiola, known for his intimate and refined style, was able to capture the most eloquent details of the evening: the tense smiles before the announcement, the sincere hugs backstage, the golden light of the statuettes reflected in the winners' eyes. His photos tell not only what happens on stage, but also what is breathed backstage, in the interludes, in the fleeting glances between one applause and another.

Among his most evocative shots: Maura Delpero holding the award with restrained and proud emotion, Elio Germano – awarded as Best Actor – who looks up at the audience while dedicating the victory “to all those who fight for equal rights and equal dignity”, and also the most spontaneous images of the audience, the red carpet, the operators behind the scenes. A visual work that restores the human and collective dimension of cinema, beyond the celebration.

Faiola's photographs will be the protagonists of a digital exhibition coming soon on the festival's official social platforms, and some selections will be exhibited during the summer in a review dedicated to major Italian cultural events, as a testimony to how a photographer's gaze can transform an event into memory.

In an edition destined to remain in the annals for its results and the symbolic value of its victories, the visual art of Orlando Faiola has helped to fix in time the living heartbeat of a historic evening.