ROME – Jimmy Kimmel will be feted by the 10th Los Angeles-Italia Film Fashion and Art Festival with its “Award of Excellence” presented to Italian-Americans who have made an outstanding contribution to the world of entertainment.
Kimmel, host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC’s longest-running late-night talk show, will receive the nod during the annual pre-Oscars event celebrating showbiz ties between Italy and Hollywood, which will run Feb. 15-21 at the Hollywood and Highland Center.
“There is no one more deserving to receive our ‘Excellence Award’ than Jimmy Kimmel,” enthused event topper Pascal Vicedomini in a statement. “ Vicedomini went on to praise Kimmel for the unique style in which he “brilliantly comments upon the contemporary scene, as he skewers both pop culture and breaking news on a nightly basis through his monologues and video montages.”
Previous editions of Los Angeles-Italia have honored Al Pacino, David O. Russell, and Nicolas Cage.
L.A. Italia will open with the world premiere of Italian director Marco Pontecorvo’s comedy “Partly Cloudy (With Sunny Spells),” a bittersweet tale about contemporary Italy’s vices and virtues starring John Turturro and Italo A-lister Luca Zingaretti (“Montalbano”).
Oscar-winning writer Bobby Moresco (“Crash”) is chairing this year’s fest with Lady Monika Bakardi as its president and Mark Canton serving as chairman of the honorary board.
As previously announced, the event will celebrate the centennial of Frank Sinatra’s birth with a performance by rising star Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, known for his “Pavarotti Ping,” and a selection of films from Sinatra’s career, including “Some Came Running,” “From Here To Eternity,” “The Man with the Golden Arm,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s 11″ and “On the Town.”
L.A. Italia is a sister event to two Italian fests, Capri-Hollywood and Ischia Global, both founded by Vicedomini and dedicated to establishing a creative and business bridge between Hollywood and Italy’s film and showbiz communities.
