Nanni Moretti’s ‘It Will Happen Tonight’ Earns Nine-Minute Ovation At Venice World Premiere — SkimNews
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- Nanni Moretti returned to the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of It Will Happen Tonight, earning a nine-minute ovation and ending a 37-year gap since his last Venice premiere in 1987 with Palombella Rossa
- It Will Happen Tonight received its world premiere as a Golden Lion contender, only Moretti’s second such entry after Sweet Dreams in 1981, which won the Special Jury Prize
- Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca star in the film as a bookseller and actress drawn to each other despite being in other relationships, in a story loosely adapted from Eshkol Nevo’s short story 'Hungary Heart'
- Eshkol Nevo wrote the original short story 'Hungary Heart', which inspired the film; Moretti previously adapted Nevo’s novel Three Floors Up into a feature
- Moretti explained his absence from Venice was not intentional, citing production timing — most of his films are shot in summer and ready for Cannes, but this one was filmed in autumn, making Venice feasible
- The Son’s Room, Moretti’s Palme d’Or-winning 2004 film, underscores his stronger historical ties to Cannes, where he has premiered nine competition films, compared to just two at Venice
Why it matters: Moretti’s rare return to Venice breaks a decades-long pattern shaped by production schedules, not artistic snub, giving the festival a symbolic win as it hosts a director more closely associated with Cannes. The nine-minute ovation signals strong critical interest in a filmmaker re-entering a festival landscape that once controversially excluded him.
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