Nanni Moretti Returns to Venice With ‘It Will Happen Tonight’

Nanni Moretti returned to the Venice Film Festival with a new feature for the first time in 37 years, presenting It Will Happen Tonight to a sold-out competition screening and a reported nine-minute ovation on Saturday.

The romantic drama brings Moretti back to the Lido after decades in which Cannes served as the usual launchpad for his work. His previous Venice world premiere was Palombella Rossa in 1989, while his latest film is only his second title to compete for the Golden Lion.

A romance built across years and missed chances

It Will Happen Tonight stars Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca as Matteo and Greta, two people whose lives repeatedly cross while relationships, careers and family obligations keep them apart. The story stretches across years and several cities, turning coincidence and delayed desire into the engine of the film.

Moretti co-wrote the screenplay with Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella. It is loosely adapted from work by Israeli author Eshkol Nevo, whose novel Three Floors Up previously inspired Moretti’s 2021 film Three Floors. The Hollywood Reporter’s review lists a 103-minute running time and describes the new movie as a sweeping, star-crossed romance with Moretti’s familiar shifts between humor and darker emotion.

Variety reported ahead of the premiere that international sales had already been secured across a broad range of European markets as well as Latin America, Brazil, Israel and Taiwan. Sacher Film and Fandango produced the film with RAI Cinema and international partners.

Moretti explains the long gap between Venice premieres

At the festival press conference, Moretti said the absence was not a deliberate snub. His films are often shot during summer and completed in time for Cannes rather than Venice. Because this production filmed in autumn, he was able to submit it to festival director Alberto Barbera for the September competition.

The warm reception turned that scheduling change into a highly visible homecoming for one of Italy’s most established filmmakers. Moretti has spent much of his career moving between political satire, intimate comedy and family drama; this time, the focus is a love story about timing, persistence and the lives people build while waiting for the relationship they cannot forget.