63rd Venice International Film Festival

The 63rd annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, from 30 August to 9 September 2006.

Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia was the opening film of the festival, and Pavel Lungin's The Island was the closing film. Italian actress Isabella Ferrari was the host of both ceremonies.

During the festival, retrospectives were held on the one hundredth anniversary of the births of three major Italian directors: Roberto Rossellini, Mario Soldati and Luchino Visconti. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was presented to American director David Lynch. All the films running the contest were shown for the first time as world premiere in the festival history since the Second World War.

Jia Zhangke's Still Life won the Golden Lion, the festival top prize, following main competition prizes to Alain Resnais, Emanuele Crialese, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Isild Le Besco, Emmanuel Lubezki, Peter Morgan, and a Special Lion to french filmmakers duo Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet for their innovation in cinematographic languages.

Juries
The international juries of the 63rd Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows:

Main Competition (Venezia 63)

 * Catherine Deneuve, French actress — Jury President
 * Michele Placido, Italian actor and director
 * Juan Josè Bigas Luna, Spanish director and writer
 * Paulo Branco, Portuguese producer
 * Cameron Crowe, American filmmaker and producer
 * Chulpan Khamatova, Russian actress
 * Park Chan-wook, South Korean filmmaker

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Philip Gröning, German fillmaker — Jury President
 * Carlo Carlei, Italian director
 * Giuseppe Genna, Italian writer
 * Keiko Kusakabe, Japanese producer and distributor
 * Yousry Nasrallah, Egyptian director

Opera Prima ("Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film)

 * Paula Wagner, American producer — Jury President
 * Stefania Rocca, Italian actress
 * Guillermo del Toro, Mexican filmmaker
 * Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian filmmaker and producer
 * Andrei Plakhov, Russian critic

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

 * Teboho Mahlatsi, South African director and producer — Jury President
 * Francesca Calvelli, Italian editor
 * Aleksey Fedorchenko, Russian director

In Competition
The competitive section of the official selection is an international competition of feature films in 35mm and digital HD format, running for the Golden Lion.
 * Highlighted title indicates the Golden Lion winner.

Out of Competition
Works by directors already established in past editions of the Festival, and films deemed appropriate for a midnight screening.

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


 * Highlighted title indicate the Horizons Awards for Best Film and Best Documentary respectively.

Corto Cortissimo
International competition of 35mm short films, in world premiere, not exceeding 30 minutes in length.


 * Highlighted title indicates Lion for Best Short Film winner.

Retrospective - The Secret Story of Russian cinema
Special monografic section on the Secret story of Russian cinema from 1934 to 1974.

Retrospective - Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
This is a special section dedicated to the Brazilian movie-maker, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, one of the fathers of new cinema and a famous renewal of Brazilian cinema. His daughter, Alice de Andrade, also a producer, restored the fourteen works that constitute all of her father's filmography.

Retrospective - Secret History of Italian Cinema 3
Special monographic sessions dedicated to the secret story of Italian film from 1937 to 1979. This is the third part of the retrospective of Italian Film, initiated at the 61st Venice International Film Festival.

Venice International Film Critics' Week
The following feature films were selected to be screened as In Competition for the 21st Venice International Film Critics' Week:

Venice Days
The following films were selected for the 3rd edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:

Official Awards
The following Official Awards were conferred at the 63rd edition:

In Competition (Venezia 63)

 * Golden Lion: Still Life by Jia Zhangke
 * Silver Lion for Best Director: Alain Resnais for Private Fears in Public Places
 * Silver Lion Revelationr: Emanuele Crialese for Nuovomondo
 * Special Jury Prize: Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Ben Affleck for Hollywoodland
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Helen Mirren for The Queen
 * Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Isild Le Besco for L'intouchable
 * Award for Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of Men
 * Award for Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan for The Queen
 * Special Lion: Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet for their innovation in cinematographic languages

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

 * David Lynch

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Best Film: Courthouse on Horseback by Liu Jie
 * Best Documentary: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

 * Silver Lion for Best Short Film: Comment on freine dans une descente? by Alix Delaporte
 * UIP Award for the Best European Short Film: The Making of Parts by Daniel Elliott
 * Special Mention: Adults Only by Yeo Joon Han

Luigi De Laurentis Award for a Debut Film

 * Khadak by Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth
 * Special mention: 7 Years by Jean-Pascal Hattu

Independent Sections Awards
The following official and collateral awards were conferred to films of the autonomous sections:

Venice International Film Critics' Week

 * Best Film: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by Dito Montiel
 * Isvema Award: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by Dito Montiel

Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori)

 * Label Europa Cinemas: Dark Blue Almost Black by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
 * Prize Arca Cinemagiovani (Young Cinema Award) – Best Movie "Other Visions": Offscreen by Christoffer Boe
 * UAAR Award: Dark Blue Almost Black by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
 * Venice Authors Prize: Chicha tu madre by Gianfranco Quattrini & Mientras tanto by Diego Lerman

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

FIPRESCI Award

 * Best Film (Main competition): The Queen by Stephen Frears
 * Best Film (Horizons): When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee

SIGNIS Award

 * Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese
 * Special mention: Dry Season by Mahamat Saleh Haroun
 * Special mention: Private Property by Joachim Lafosse

UNICEF Award

 * Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese

UNESCO Award

 * Dry Season by Mahamat Saleh Haroun

Francesco Pasinetti Award (SNGCI)

 * Best Actor: Sergio Castellitto for The Missing Star
 * Best Actress: Laura Morante for Private Fears in Public Places
 * Best Film: Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese

Pietro Bianchi Award

 * Marco Bellocchio

FEDIC Award

 * Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese

Little Golden Lion

 * Euphoria by Ivan Vyrypaev

Young Cinema Award – Best International Film

 * Black Book by Paul Verhoeven

Wella Prize

 * Don't Make Any Plans for Tonight by Gianluca Maria Tavarelli

Open Prize

 * Dong by Jia Zhangke

Doc/It Award

 * Dong by Jia Zhangke
 * I Am the One Who Brings Flowers to Her Grave by Hala Alabdalla Yakoub and Ammar Al Beik

Future Film Festival Digital Award

 * Inland Empire by David Lynch
 * Special mention: The Banquet by Feng Xiaogang

Laterna Magica Prize

 * Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón

Biografilm Award

 * Bobby by Emilio Estevez

CinemAvvenire Award

 * Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese

Cinema for Peace Award

 * I Don't Want to Sleep Alone by Tsai Ming-liang

Award of the City of Rome

 * Lettere dal Sahara by Vittorio De Seta

Human Rights Film Network Award

 * When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
 * Special mention: Dry Season by Mahamat Saleh Haroun

EIUC Award

 * Dry Season by Mahamat Saleh Haroun

Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award

 * The Missing Star by Gianni Amelio

Gucci Award

 * Nick Cave (screenplay) for The Proposition by John Hillcoat

The numbers and the nations of the 63rd Show

 * Number of countries with a film in one of the official sections: 31
 * Countries making their first appearance at the film festival Chad, Cyprus and Indonesia
 * Number of films displayed: 2,589, including 1,429 full-length feature films
 * Number of full-length feature film officially presented: 62
 * During the contest: 21
 * Out of the contest: 9 + 7 midnights + 1 special event
 * Venice Horizons: 19 + 5 special events