Giovanni "Nanni" Moretti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈnanni moˈretti]; born 19 August 1953; Brunico) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. The Palme d'Or winner in 2001, in 2012 he was the President of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. His films have won accolades including a Palme d'Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for "The Son's Room", a Silver Bear at the 1986 Berlin Film Festival for "The Mass is Ended" and a Silver Lion at the 1981 Venice Film Festival for "Sweet Dreams", in addition to the David di Donatello Award for Best Film on three occasions (for "Caro diario" in 1994, "The Son's Room" in 2001 and "Il caimano" in 2006). Moretti was born in Bruneck, Italy to Roman parents who were both teachers. His father was the late epigraphist Luigi Moretti, a Greek teacher at Sapienza University of Rome. His brother is literary scholar Franco Moretti. While growing up Moretti discovered his two passions, the cinema and water polo. Having finished his studies he pursued a career as a producer, and in 1973 directed his first two short films: Pâté de bourgeois and The Defeat (La sconfitta). In 1976, Nanni Moretti's first feature film Io sono un autarchico (I Am Self-Sufficient) was released. In 1978, he wrote, directed and starred in the movie Ecce Bombo, which tells the story of a student having problems with his entourage. It was screened at the Cannes Festival. Sogni d'oro won the Silver Lion at the 38th Venice International Film Festival. La messa è finita won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival. He may be best known for his films Caro diario (Dear Diary, 1993; followed in 1998 by a sequel, Aprile) and La stanza del figlio (The Son's Room, 2001), the latter of which won the Palme d'Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Moretti has used certain actors several times in his films, generally playing minor roles. His father Luigi appears in 6 films, Dario Cantarelli and Mauro Fabretti in 5, Antonio Petrocelli in 4. More notable Italian actors he has employed frequently in his films include Silvio Orlando, who appears in 5 films (including the role of protagonist in Il caimano) and Laura Morante, who was featured in Sogni d'oro, Bianca and The Son's Room.[citation needed]. Having played waterpolo in the B division of the Italian championship, his experience later inspired his film Palombella Rossa ("palombella," which literally means "little pigeon," refers to a type of lob shot). His other work has not been widely seen outside Europe, but within his country Moretti is known as a maker of wryly humorous and eccentric films, usually starring himself. His most recent role was in the film Mia Madre (My Mother, 2015) Moretti is also an outspoken political leftist. In 2002, he organized street protests against the government of Silvio Berlusconi. Il caimano (2006) is in part about Berlusconi's controversies: in one of the three portraits of the Italian prime minister Moretti himself plays Berlusconi. Aprile also deals with Italy's political situation and Moretti's views on it. His 2011 film We Have a Pope screened In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

• 2026Carla Lonzi, A Feminist Story
• 2026It Will Happen Tonight — Padre di Greta, Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 2025Buio in sala
• 2025Canestrooooo! — Self, Director
• 2024Quasi a casa — Producer
• 2024Vittoria — Producer
• 2023A Brighter Tomorrow — Giovanni, Director, Producer, Screenplay, Story
• 2022Las Leonas — Sé stesso, Producer
• 2022Piazza — Producer
• 2022The Hummingbird — Daniele Carradori
• 2021My Life with the Waters — Thanks
• 2021Senza troppo recitare la follia
• 2021Three Floors — Vittorio, Screenplay, Producer, Director
• 2018Piazza Mazzini — Director
• 2018Santiago, Italia — Self, Producer, Screenplay, Director, Idea, Script, Story, Writer
• 2017Cheerful Ischia and Smiling Collarbones — Self, Director
• 2016Venanzio Revolt: I miei primi 80 anni di cinema — Narrator
• 2015Filmstudio, mon amour — Sé stesso
• 2015Mia Madre — Giovanni, Director, Producer, Story, Screenplay
• 2014Tutte le storie di Piera
• 2013Autobiography of the Masked Man — Director
• 2013Gently Dig the Abdomen — Director
• 2013The King — Producer
• 2011Block-notes di Habemus Papam — Producer
• 2011We Have a Pope — Dott. Brezzi, Director, Producer, Screenplay, Story
• 2008Film Quiz — Himself, Director
• 2008Quiet Chaos — Pietro Paladini, Screenplay
• 2007Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition) — Director
• 2007Diario di Uno Spettatore — Nanni Moretti, Director, Writer
• 2007The Last Championship — Self, Producer, Writer, Director
• 2007To Each His Own Cinema — Nanni Moretti (segment "Diario di uno spettatore"), Director, Writer
• 2006Cinema 16: European Short Films (European Edition) — Director
• 2006The Caiman — Nanni Moretti / Silvio Berlusconi, Director, Producer, Story, Screenplay
• 2006The Caiman's Diary — Director
• 2005Colpi di testa — Producer
• 2004Te lo leggo negli occhi — Cliente negozio, Producer
• 2003Anguish Cry of Predator Bird — Self, Director, Producer, Writer
• 2003The Last Customer — Director, Producer
• 2002Il salumificio — Producer
• 2002Zappaterra, — Producer
• 2001The Son's Room — Giovanni, Screenplay, Producer, Director, Story
• 1998Aprile — Nanni Moretti, Producer, Director, Writer
• 1996Opening Day of Close-Up — Himself, Director
• 1996Three Lives and Only One Death — Barman
• 1995The Second Time — Alberto Sajevo, Producer
• 1994The Only Country In The World — Cesare Botero / Self, Director
• 1993Caro diario — Nanni Moretti, Director, Writer, Producer
• 1991The Yes Man — Cesare Botero, Producer
• 1990The Thing — Director, Producer, Editor
• Cinéma, de notre temps — Nanni Moretti
• 1989Palombella rossa — Michele Apicella, Director, Writer, Producer
• 1988It's Happening Tomorrow — Matteo, il carbonaio, Producer
• 1987Notte italiana — Producer
• 1985The Mass Is Ended — Don Giulio, Director, Screenplay, Story
• 1984Bianca — Michele Apicella, Director, Screenplay, Story
• 1984Sabatoventiquattromarzo — Director
• 1981Sweet Dreams — Michele Apicella, Director, Story, Screenplay, Producer
• 1978Ecce Bombo — Michele Apicella, Director, Screenplay, Story, Idea, Script, Writer
• 1977An Autarchic at 'Palazzo' — Himself, Director, Writer
• 1977Padre Padrone — Cesare
• 1976I Am Self-Sufficient — Michele Apicella, Director, Editor, Writer, Producer, Idea, Story, Script, Screenplay
• 1974How Do You Speak, Brother? — Don Rodrigo, Producer, Writer, Director
• 1973Bourgeois Pâté — Il ragazzo con la cinepresa, Producer, Writer, Director
• 1973Defeat — Producer, Writer, Director
• Primo Viaggio — Producer
• Segni particolari: documentarista

Appearances as themselves (18)

• 2024Carlo Mazzacurati: A Certain Idea of Cinema — Self
• 2022Franco Battiato - La voce del padrone — Self
• 2021We Are Cinema — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Dalla quercia alla palma - 40 anni di Padre Padrone — Himself
• 2017Evviva Giuseppe — Himself
• 2016Just a Movie: On the Set of 'Mia Madre' — Self
• 2015The Legend of the Palme d'Or — Self
• 2012A Special Day — Self
• 2012Girlfriend in a Coma — Self
• 2011Voi siete qui — Self
• 2007Say Something Left-Wing — Himself
• 2004I nostri trent'anni - Generazioni a confronto — Self
• 2003Citizen Berlusconi — Self (uncredited)
• 2003Fellini: I'm a Born Liar — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1993Caro Nanni — Himself
• 1985Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema — Self
• 1984Riso in bianco – Nanni Moretti atleta di se stesso — Self
• Ciné regards — Self