After a Golden Globe nomination, Sorrentino film enters Oscar shortlist.

The Hand of God by award-winning Italian film director Paolo Sorrentino has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday night.

The coming-of-age film, whose original Italian title is È stata la mano di Dio, is listed among 15 hopefuls vying for a nomination in the academy's best international movie category.

It will be known on 8 February if Sorrentino's film will be nominated for an Oscar, and whether the 51-year-old Neapolitan director has a chance of bringing home a second Academy Award on 27 March, eight years after the one he received for The Great Beauty.

The news comes a week after the new movie was nominated in the 'Best Film - Foreign Language' category of the Golden Globes whose awards ceremony in Los Angeles is scheduled on 9 January.

• Italy: Netflix launches Sorrentino film The Hand of God

Netflix began streaming the movie on 15 December, following its release in Italian cinemas on 24 November, after it won the Grand Jury Silver Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

Charting the story of a teenage boy in Naples during the 1980s, Sorrentino's largely autobiographical film stars Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo and Teresa Saponangelo.

The tale spans several years from the arrival of Diego Maradona to play for Napoli to the team's first Italian title success. During this time the young boy comes of age and witnesses the death of his parents.