Io Capitano won 7 awards and C'è ancora domani took home six.

Matteo Garrone's migration-themed film Io Capitano and Paola Cortellesi’s feminist dramedy C'è ancora domani were the big winners at the 69th David di Donatello awards in Rome on Friday.

Garrone's Oscar-nominated movie won awards for best picture and best director at the top film event, Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars, held at the iconic Cinecittà film studios.

The film, based on the real-life story of the perilous journey of two young Senagalese men from Dakar to Italy, also picked up awards for best producer, cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.

Cortellesi's smash-hit black and white movie, whose title in English is There's Still Tomorrow, took home six David di Donatello awards.

Cortellesi won best actress and directorial debut for her neorealist-style movie about the domestic struggles of an abused housewife in post-war Rome, confronting issues related to patriarchy and women's empowerment.

The movie also won awards for best original screenplay, which Cortellesi co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda, as well as best supporting actress for Emanuela Fanelli, the spectator prize and the David Giovani, judged by a youth jury.

Cortellesi's film is one of the top 10 highest-grossing Italian films ever in Italy's cinemas, drawing 4.8 million spectators since its release last October, ahead of the global box office phenomenon Barbie which sold 4.3 cinema tickets in Italy.

• There's Still Tomorrow: Paola Cortellesi film is smash hit in Italian cinemas

There was success also for Marco Bellocchio’s film Rapito (Kidnapped), the true story of a Jewish boy forcibly taken from his family by the Papal States and raised as a Catholic in 19th century Italy, which won awards for best adapted screenplay, set design, costumes, makeup, and hair.

Established in 1955 and awarded annually, the prestigious David di Donatello awards are the highest accolade in Italian cinema.

Cover image: Paola Cortellesi in There's Still Tomorrow.