Oscar-winning Italian actress Sophia Loren scooped a David di Donatello award, Italy's top film prize, for best actress at a ceremony in Rome last night. Loren won the accolade for her lead role as Madame Rosa in La Vita Davanti a Sé (The Life Ahead), directed by her son Edoardo Ponti.

In the film Loren plays a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor who forges an unlikely bond with a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant boy. "The emotion is the same as the first David 60 years ago, perhaps even greater," said a visibly moved Loren on stage after she received a standing ovation.