61st Venice International Film Festival

The 61st annual Venice International Film Festival was the 2004 edition of the Venice International Film Festival, held between 1 and 11 September 2004. The festival opened with Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, and closed with Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy. The Golden Lion was awarded to Vera Drake, directed by Mike Leigh.

On this edition, a new independent section, Venice Days (Giornate degli autori), was created "for free cinema, new talents and new stories". This section is organized by the ANAC (National Association of Cinematographic Authors) and the API (Independent Authors & Producers).

Also in this edition, The Secret History of Italian Cinema was launched, a new official retrospective section, with the aim of restoring and systematically rediscovering sides of the Italian cinema that have been "forgotten, invisible, unknown or misunderstood". The retrospective was planned for the following four editions (61st to 64th editions), later was extended with the These Phantoms: Italian Cinema Rediscovered (65th edition), and the Italian Comedy Retrospective (66th edition). The Fondazione Prada was the main sponsor/partner of this section.

Juries
The following people comprised the 2004 juries:

Main Competition (Venezia 61)

 * John Boorman, British filmmaker - Jury President
 * Wolfgang Becker, German filmmaker
 * Mimmo Calopresti, Italian director
 * Scarlett Johansson, American actress
 * Spike Lee, American filmmaker, actor and producer
 * Dusan Makavejev, Serbian filmmaker
 * Helen Mirren, British actress
 * Pietro Scalia, Italian editor
 * Hsu Feng, Taiwanese actress and producer

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Nicolas Philibert, French director - Jury President
 * Brian Helgeland, American director
 * Fiorella Infascelli, Italian director

Venezia Cinema Digitale

 * Mike Figgis, British filmmaker and composer - Jury President
 * Shozo Ichiyama, Japanese film producer
 * Claire Simon, French filmaker

In Competition
The main competitive section of the official selection is an international competition of feature films running for the Golden Lion.


 * Highlighted title indicates the Golden Lion winner.
 * † indicates films that competed for the Lion of the Future.

Out of Competition
The following films of the official selection were screened as "out of competition":

Horizons (Orizzonti)
A section aiming to provide a picture of the new trends in cinema.


 * Highlighted title indicates the Horizons Awards for Best Film.
 * † indicates films that competed for the Lion of the Future.

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)
The following films, whose length does not exceed 30 minutes, were selected for the Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo):


 * Highlighted title indicates Lion for Best Short Film winner.

Venetian Nights
The following films were screened for the Venetian Nights section (Venezia Mezzanotte):


 * † indicates films that competed for the Lion of the Future.

Venice Digital Cinema
A section intended to provide an overview of the new expressive possibilities granted by digital technologies.
 * † indicates films that competed for the Lion of the Future.

Retrospective - The Secret History of Italian Cinema 1
A new retrospective section on Italian Cinema aiming to restore and systematically rediscover sides of the Italian cinema That Have Been "Forgotten, Invisible, Unknown Or Misunderstood". This first edition of the retrospective is titled Italian Kings of the B's.

Venice International Film Critics' Week
The following feature films were selected to be screened as In Competition for this section:

Venice Days
The following films were selected for the 1st edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:

Official Awards
The following Official Awards were conferred at the 61st edition:

In Competition (Venezia 61)

 * Golden Lion: Vera Drake by Mike Leigh
 * Silver Lion for Best Director: 3-Iron by Kim Ki-duk
 * Grand Jury Prize: The Sea Inside by Alejandro Amenábar
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Javier Bardem for The Sea Inside
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake
 * Marcello Mastroianni Award: Tommaso Ramenghi and Marco Luisi for Lavorare con lentezza
 * Golden Osella: Studio Ghibli for Howl's Moving Castle

Golden Lion for lifetime achievement

 * Manoel de Oliveira and Stanley Donen

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Best Film: Les petits fils by Ilan Duran Cohen
 * Special mention: Vento di terra by Vincenzo Marra

Digital Cinema Award

 * 20 Fingers by Mania Akbari
 * Special Mention: La vita è breve ma la giornata è lunghissima by Gianni Zanasi and Lucio Pellegrini

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

 * Citroen Short Super-Short Lion for Best Short Film: Signe d'appartenence by Kamel Cherif
 * Special mention: The Carpenter and His Clumsy Wife by Peter Foot
 * UIP Prize for Best European Short Film: Goodbye by Steve Hudson

"Luigi de Laurentis" Award For A Debut Film (Lion of the Future)

 * Le Grand Voyage by Ismaël Ferroukhi and Humbert Balsan
 * Special Mention: Saimir by Francesco Munzi

Independents Awards
The following collateral awards were conferred to films of the official selection:

Venice International Film Critics' Week

 * Audience Award:To Take a Wife by Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz

FIPRESCI Prize

 * Competition: 3-Iron by Kim Ki-duk
 * Parallel Sections: Vento di terra by Vincenzo Marra

SIGNS Award

 * One Long Winter Without Fire by Greg Zglinski
 * Honorable Mention: 3-Iron by Kim Ki-duk

C.I.C.A.E. Award

 * Gilles' Wife by Frédéric Fonteyne

UNICEF Award

 * House of Fools by Andrei Konchalovsky

UNESCO Award

 * Land of Plenty by Wim Wenders

Pasinetti Award

 * Best Film: The Keys to the House by Gianni Amelio
 * Best Actor: Kim Rossi Stuart for The Keys to the House
 * Best Actress: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for 5x2

Isvema Award

 * To Take a Wife by Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz

FEDIC Award

 * To Sleep Next To Her by Eugenio Cappuccio

Little Golden Lion

 * 3-Iron by Kim Ki-duk

Venice Days - Label Europa Cinemas

 * Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper

Young Cinema Award

 * Best Italian Film: Nemmeno il destino by Daniele Gaglianone
 * Best Digital Film: Un silenzio particolare by Stefano Rulli
 * Best International Film: The Sea Inside by Alejandro Amenábar

"Lino Miccichè" First Feature Award

 * Nemmeno il destino by Daniele Gaglianone

Open Prize

 * Strays Dogs by Marzieh Makhmalbaf

Lina Mangiacapre Award

 * The 3 Rooms of Melancholia by Pirjo Honkasalo

Future Film Festival Digital Award

 * Collateral by Michael Mann

Laterna Magica Prize

 * Finding Neverland by Marc Forster

Sergio Trasatti Award

 * The Keys to the House by Gianni Amelio

CinemAvvenire Award

 * Best Film: The Keys to the House by Gianni Amelio
 * Best First Film: One Long Winter Without Fire by Greg Zglinski
 * Cinema for Peace Award: Promised Land by Amos Gitai

Award of the City of Rome

 * Best Film: A Less Bad World by Alejandro Agresti

International Peace Award

 * Best Film: Jeruzalemski sindrom by Jakov Sedlar

Human Rights Film Network Award

 * The 3 Rooms of Melancholia by Pirjo Honkasalo

EIUC Award

 * Yesterday by Darrell Roodt
 * Special Mention: The 3 Rooms of Melancholia by Pirjo Honkasalo

Special Director's Award

 * 3-Iron by Kim Ki-duk

Special Pasinetti Award

 * Vento di terra by Vincenzo Marra (For an innovative film)