ROME-- On Monday the 61^st David di Donatello Awards took place in the capital, with Edoardo De Angelis and Valeria Bruni Tedesci among those to scoop up prizes.

 The star of the show of this year’s David di Donatello Awards was La pazza gioia, otherwise known as Like crazy. The unique storyline of two women escaping from a mental institute in Tuscany clearly paid off as the film took home five statuettes, notably for best picture, best director, and best actor, which went to Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The Italian-French actress thanked, among others, her psychologist and the modern psychiatry pioneer, Franco Basaglia, who closed down the country’s inhumane mental asylums.

 The other big winner was Indivisible, set in Naples about two conjoined twin sisters with beautiful voices, which came out of the ceremony with six awards, the same as Italian Race. Most significantly the film received best screenplay, producer and supporting actress while Italian Race best actor, cinematography and editing.

 Recognition was also given to Valerio Mastandrea, winner of supporting actor for Fiore; Marco Danieli, as best first-time director for La ragazza del mondo; and Volfango De Biasi, best documentarian for Crazy for football. However, Bellocchio’s Fa bei sogni, didn’t win a single award, despite being nominated for ten.

 Outside of the peninsula, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals took the gong for the best foreign film outside of the EU, while within the continent the nod went to Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake.

 The awards were hosted by X Factor presenter, Alessandro Cattelan, and were aired on Sky Italia late Monday night.