Nanni Moretti

One of the darlings of the Cannes Film Festival, auteur Nanni Moretti established a reputation as the Italian Woody Allen thanks to a string of wryly humorous and navel-gazing directorial efforts in which he cast himself in the lead role. Often also taking on the duties of producer and screenwriter, the eccentric visionary made an instant impression in his homeland with comedic debut "I Am Self Sufficient" (1976) and continued to showcase his distinctive blend of satire, surrealism and semi-autobiographical themes in the likes of international breakthrough "Ecce bombo" (1978), festival hit "Sogni d'oro" (1981) and arthouse favorite "La messa e finita" (1984). The following decade saw Moretti embrace his leftist leanings with several politically charged pictures, while diary-style films "Caro diario" (1993) and "Aprile" (1998) offered audiences a deeper insight into his eccentric real-life persona. Moretti achieved his biggest commercial success in the 00s with the Palme d'Or-winning family tragedy "The Son's Room" (2001) and Silvio Berlusconi-skewing comedy "Il caimani" (2006), while acclaimed performances in the former and subtle psychological drama "Quiet Chaos" (2008) proved he was just as masterful in front of the camera as he was behind it.