Italian director Mario Martone's 'Fuori' (Out) was named among the contenders for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival by organizers on Thursday.
The film stars Valeria Golino in the role of the writer Goliarda Sapienza.
Italy also has two representatives in the Un Certain Regard section for movies with unusual styles and non-traditional stories.
They are 'Testa o Croce?' (Heads or Tails) by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, and Francesco Sossai's road movie 'Le Città di Pianura' (The Cities on the Plains).
Cannes Film Festival Delegate General Thierry Fremaux described 'Testa o Croce?' as "an Italian western showing the story of Buffalo Bill".
Fremaux added that he saw Italian cinema as being in rude health.
''Much was said about Italian cinema being destroyed by Berlusconi, by television, by the 1980s and 1990s," he said, replying to a question from ANSA.
"It had been to some extent, but Italian cinema's capacity for resistance, for survival is quite extraordinary.
"With the two films that we have selected for Un Certain Regard, and others that we would have liked to have shown, we have the impression that we are once again witnessing the emergence of young Italian authors, and this is formidable. "Italy is a country with a great cinema history and it continues to be great".
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