42nd Venice International Film Festival

The 42nd annual Venice International Film Festival was held on 26 August to 6 September 1985.

Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi was the Jury President of the main competition. The Golden Lion winner was Vagabond directed by Agnès Varda.

Jury
The following people comprised the 1985 jury:
 * Krzysztof Zanussi, Polish filmmaker and producer - Jury President
 * Guido Aristarco, Italian film critic and author
 * Gaspare Barbiellini Amidei, Italian sociologist
 * Ricardo Bofill, Spanish architect
 * Frank Capra, Italian-American filmmaker
 * Jean d'Ormesson, French novelist
 * Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and art critic
 * Kon Ichikawa, Japanese filmmaker
 * Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-French playwright
 * Elem Klimov, Soviet filmmaker
 * Lino Miccichè, Italian film critic
 * Zoran Mušič, Yugoslavian painter
 * John Schlesinger, British director
 * Renzo Vespignani, Italian painter

Venice International Film Critics' Week
The following feature films were selected to be screened as In Competition for this section:
 * A Strange Love Affair by Eric de Kuyper, Paul Verstraten (Netherlands)
 * El Haimoune (En. Wanderers of the Desert) by Nacer Khemir (Tunisia, France)
 * Fandango by Kevin Reynolds (United States)
 * Ain't Nothin' Without You a.k.a. Noisy Martha (Nicht nichts ohne Dich) by Pia Frankenberg (West Germany)
 * The Record (Der Rekord) by Daniel Helfer (West Germany, Switzerland)
 * The Disciples (A tanítványok) by Géza Bereményi (Hungary)
 * Yesterday by Radosław Piwowarski (Poland)

Main Competition

 * Golden Lion: Vagabond by Agnès Varda
 * Grand Special Jury Prize: Tangos, the Exile of Gardel by Fernando Solanas
 * Special Jury Prize: The Lightship by Jerzy Skolimowski
 * Silver Lion: Dust by Marion Hänsel
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Gérard Depardieu for Police
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actress: NOT ASSIGNED. (The jury deemed the best performances to be Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond) and Jane Birkin (Dust), but decided against awarding the prize as both films won major awards )
 * Volpi Cup Special mentions:
 * Sonja Savić for Life Is Beautiful
 * Galya Novents for The Tango of Our Childhood
 * Themis Bazaka for Stone Years

Career Golden Lion

 * Federico Fellini

Special Lion

 * John Huston
 * Manoel de Oliveira

Sergio Trasatti Awards

 * Manoel de Oliveira for The Satin Slipper
 * Special Mention: Juraj Jakubisko for The Feather Fairy