Oscars: Italy Unveils 21-Title Shortlist With Nanni Moretti’s ‘It Will Happen Tonight’ & Venice Orizzonti Prizewinner ‘The House Of The Monkey’

Italy has unveiled the 21 films under consideration to represent the country in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

A selection committee, overseen by the film body Anica, will decide which film will go forward as Italy’s submission at a meeting on September 23.

The films, all of which were theatrically released in Italy in the period between October 1, 2025 and September 30 2026, include three Venice 2026 Golden Lion contenders: Nanni Moretti’s It Will Happen Tonight, Marco Bechis’ Back To Buenos Aires and Paolo Strippoli’s The Spiral.

Tommaso Landucci’s Venice Orizzonti title The House of the Monkey which won Riccardo Scamarcio Best Actor and the director and co-writer Damiano Femfert Best Screenplay in the sidebar, is also on the shortlist.

Spanish director Isabel Coixet Italian-language couple drama Three Goodbyes is also on the mix, as is Italian opera director Damiano Michieletto’s first feature Primavera, which world premiered as a Special Presentation at TIFF last year.

Italy last won the Best International Feature Film Oscar in 2014 with The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino.

The full shortlist

• Anna
  Dir. Monica Guerritore
• Controcorrente a Rebours
  Dir. Angelo Antonucci
• Finale: Allegro
  Dir. Emanuela Piovano
• Sweetheart (Gioia Mia)
  Dir. Margherita Spampinato
• The Eyes of Others (Gli occhi degli altri)
  Dir. Andrea De Sica
• The House of the Monkey
  Dir. Tommaso Landucci
• Judas’ Gospel (Il Vangelo di Giuda)
  Dir. Giulio Base
• Hitler’s Big Fear: The Trial Against Degenerate Art
  Dir. Simone Risi
• La Salita
  Dir. Massimiliano Gallo
• Life Goes This Way (La vita va così)
  Dir. Riccardo Milani
• Mosquitoes
  Dir. Valentina Bertani e Nicole Bertani
• The Things Left Unspoken (Le cose non dette)
  Dir. Gabriele Muccino
• The Spiral (l’estranea)
  Dir. Paolo Strippoli
• Orfeo
  Dir. Virgilio Villoresi
• Per Te
  Dir. Alessandro Aronadio
• Primavera
  Dir. Damiano Michieletto
• Quasi Grazia
  Dir. Peter Marcias
• Return to Buenos Aires
  Dir. Marco Bechis
• Serpenti
  Dir. Roberto De Paolis
• It Will Happen Tonight
  Dir. Nanni Moretti
• Three Goodbyes (Tre Ciotole)
  Dir. Isabel Coixet