Rome - Gomorrah, a grim, violent portrayal of the Camorra - the Neapolitan version of the mafia - has been selected to represent Italy at next year's Academy Awards, Italy's film industry association ANICA said Wednesday.

Directed by Matteo Garrone and based on Roberto Saviano's best-selling book of the same name, Gomorrah in May won the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix - the prestigious competition's third prize.

ANICA's announcement on Wednesday's came as Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the Italian state is engaged in a "civil war" with the Camorra.

Maroni was explaining to parliament the government's decision to dispatch 500 soldiers to the Naples hinterland of Caserta following the killing last week of six African immigrants in an attack believed to be part of a Camorra drugs turf war.

Gomorrah, is set in an urban wasteland near Naples against the backdrop of a climate of terror which illustrates the brutality and power of the Camorra crime families - from the fear they generate on the streets through to well-dressed bosses clinching the waste-disposal deals.

The US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is set in January to select the five foreign-language films to compete for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.