A Plethora Of 2015 Oscar® Contenders Including Keira Knightley, Morten Tyldum, Graham Moore And Rory Kennedy to Be Honored At The 2015 Los Angeles, Italia Film Festival

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The 10^th Annual Los Angeles, Italia – Film, Fashion and Art Fest comes to Hollywood on the eve of the Oscars®, with a star-studded array of Italian, Italian-American and international artists all scheduled to participate in the weeklong pre-Academy Awards celebration showcasing the best of Italian culture. The Fest runs February 15^th to the 21^st at the TLC Chinese 6 Theatres in the famed Hollywood & Highland complex.

Festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini announced today that among those to be honored is the multi-Oscar nominated film, "The Imitation Game," which has been tapped as the fest's Best Picture, along with its director Morten Tyldum who has been cited as Best Director, Graham Moore, whose work has been named Best Adapted Screenplay and Keira Knightley winner as Best Supporting Actress. Harvey Weinstein will accept the Best Picture award on behalf of The Weinstein Company and the others will accept their respective awards on opening night.

Director Rory Kennedy will be on hand to receive the Best Documentary Feature award for "Last Days in Vietnam." Among the prominent personages in attendance will be Antonio Verde, Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles, and John Viola, president and CEO of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), which is celebrating its 40^th Anniversary this year.

The 2015 festival is dedicated to Frank Sinatra in commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of his birth and in doing so, L.A., Italia will screen five of the actor-singers classic films including the Oscar-winning "From Here To Eternity," plus "The Detective," "Ocean's 11," "Von Ryan's Express" and "Some Came Running."

Robert Davi, known in inner circles as the "singer who can act" paid homage to his mentor, the legendary Frank Sinatra with the 2011 album "Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance." The actor-singer will perform several classic Sinatra songs as part of the festival's opening night festivities, as will the famed Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo. Also that night Grigolo will be honored with "Italian Icon Awards."

"We're so proud that the Hollywood community considers L.A. Italia an important bridge between our two great countries," said Vicedomini. "The caliber of stars, filmmakers and celebrities that have come together to kick off our 10^th anniversary celebration is truly wonderful.  We're thrilled and honored to have all these great people with us and look forward to facilitating many more successful collaborations between our two countries in the future."

Previously announced opening night awardees are Jimmy Kimmel, host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning ABC late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live," and director Marco Pontecorvo, whose latest movie "Partly Cloudy (With Sunny Spells)" starring John Turturro and Luca Zingaretti will have its world premiere that evening. They will both receive an "Award of Excellence." Also previously announced Liza Minnelli will be honored with the 2015 'Jack Valenti - Legend Award' on February 20, 2015, during the festival's closing night ceremonies.

Oscar-winning writer Bobby Moresco ("Crash") is chairing this year's festival with Lady Monika Bacardi as its president and Mark Canton serving as chairman of the Honorary Board which includes Italian producer Marina Cicogna, director Lina Wertmuller, actor Franco Nero and Italian music legend Tony Renis.

Acknowledged by the media as one of the most exciting Italian film events in the world, since 2006, L.A., Italia has been presented under the auspices of the Capri in the World Institute with the support of MIBACT (DG Cinema), Italian Trade Commission, ANICA the (NIAF) National Italian American Foundation and with the sponsorship of Bank of the West, Ambi Pictures and Mediaset. Sister film festivals including Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival in December and the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival in July are also under the domain of Vicedomini.

Additional L.A., Italia 2015 supporters include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Economic Development and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. It is organized with the participation of the Italian Consulate General, the Italian Trade Commission and the Los Angeles Italian Culture Institute, Cinecittà Studios, Luce Cinecittà, and Italian Independent Productions.

SOURCE Los Angeles, Italia Film Festival