Matteo Garrone said he was savouring the "historic" success of his 2019 adaptation of Pinocchio after it won two Oscar nominations - for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The director refused to be drawn into the debate about why the film, which stars Roberto Benigni as Gepetto, had not been been chosen to be Italy's candidate for the best foreign-language Academy Award.

"The last thing I would do at the moment is to cause a row because Pinocchio wasn't Italy's Oscar candidate," Garrone said at the presentation of a new-edition version of his award-winning 2008 film about the Neapolitan mafia, Gomorra. "I would never do that, it would be bad taste.