Cinema Italy organizers announce the selection of actress, producer, director Maria Grazia Cucinotta as the godmother of this year Film Festival and host of the Closing Dinner and Award Ceremony to be held at Bianca Restaurant in the lobby of the Delano Hotel on October 14th. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Academy Award winning film “Il Postino” that brought Maria Grazia to the global stage the festival honors the illustrious career of this great star of Italian Cinema.

Il Postino won 30 awards with an additional 16 nominations. Among the awards it received 3 Oscars including Best Picture in 1994.

Maria Grazia Cucinotta is an Italian actress who has featured in many films and television series since 1990. She has also worked as a producer, screenwriter and model.
Cucinotta was born in Messina, Province of Messina, Sicily, Italy. She is well known in Italy as a movie and television actress, but internationally she is best known for her roles in Il Postino and as the Bond girl, the Cigar Girl, in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
She guest starred in The Sopranos episode “Isabella”. She also appeared on The Simpsons episode “The Italian Bob” voicing Sideshow Bob’s wife, Francesca.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta is the recipient of several awards and many other recognitions. She won the Capri, Hollywood award in 2007 and 2005 as a director, the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2010, the 2012 Silver Ribbon of the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists and in 1998 the Best Actress Award at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival