Nanni Moretti

Giovanni Nanni Moretti Italian pronunciation ˈnanni moˈretti born 19 August 1953 Brunico is an Italian film director producer screenwriter and actor The Palme dOr 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 dOr at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for The Sons 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 Sons 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 Morettis first feature film Io sono un autarchico I Am SelfSufficient 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 doro 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 Sons Room 2001 the latter of which won the Palme dOr 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 doro Bianca and The Sons Roomcitation 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 Berlusconis controversies in one of the three portraits of the Italian prime minister Moretti himself plays Berlusconi Aprile also deals with Italys political situation and Morettis views on it His 2011 film We Have a Pope screened In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival