The Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) is a film award assigned each year, since 1948, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.[1][2]
The union of film journalists was founded in the same year in which the Nastri were born, 1946, by a group of film journalists and essayists, some of whom later became directors (Steno and Mario Soldati, who was its first president) and authors (Michelangelo Antonioni, Antonio Pietrangeli). The first regulation motivated the establishment of the Silver Ribbon to "promote the continuous artistic, technical and industrial improvement of Italian cinema and pay homage to its relevant acquisitions".[citation needed]
It was delivered for the first time in 1946 in Rome, at the Hotel de Russie. The editions were held mainly between Rome and Taormina, with the exception of some particular editions (inFlorence, after the 1966 flood, as a sign of solidarity) and, always in its first years of life, also in Sorrento.[citation needed]
In the first editions, the prizes were awarded to the films presented during the year considered by the industry, the one that ends with the end of the season; they were then attributed to the films released in the calendar year, while subsequently they were again assigned to the films released in theaters within the days immediately following the Cannes Film Festival, therefore within the last days of May, when the 'five' finalists are announced to which an event with all the candidates for the awards is dedicated.
After a few editions in the headquarters of the French Academy in Villa Medici, it is held, also in Rome, in the space of the MAXXI Museum. The prizes are awarded on the basis of 'five' proposed by the national board of the Union to the vote (notarial) of the members of the union, film journalists of the press, television, radio and Internet.
The delivery of the Silver Ribbons is combined with the Guglielmo Biraghi prizes awarded since 2001, destined for the best of the young new actors in the cinema of the year.
