Capri, Hollywood Fest to Honor 'The Traitor' as Best International Film

The mafia feature by Marco Bellocchio is Italy’s submission for the 2020 best foreign-language Academy Award.

Marco Bellocchio’s latest film The Traitor is set to receive the first major prize at the 2019 Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival.

The mafia story will be honored with the best international feature film award at the fest, which takes place annually off the coast of Naples.

The Traitor, which debuted in Cannes this year, tells the true-life story of Tommaso Buscetta, Sicily’s first mafia turncoat, in the 1980s. It has won seven Italian film Silver Ribbon awards and two Italian Golden Globes, and is nominated in multiple European Film Awards categories including best film, actor, director and screenwriter.

The Traitor has also been chosen as Italy's submission to the Oscars in the best international feature film category. Sony Pictures Classic will release the film in the U.S. on Jan. 31.

''We are particularly happy and proud to present this award,” said festival founder Pascal Vicedomini. "We are deeply convinced that The Traitor is a magnificent movie that resonates with moviegoers all over the world, the work of an inspired great master of worldwide cinema.”

Capri, Hollywood is often a key stopping point on the road to the Oscars. This year’s edition is dedicated to Gillo Pontecorvo, in the centenary of his birth, as well as to Lina Wertmüller, who was just given an honorary Academy Award and star on the Walk of Fame.

Capri, Hollywood is set to take place Dec. 26-Jan. 2.