66th Venice International Film Festival



The 66th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was held from 2 to 12 September 2009, with Maria Grazia Cucinotta serving as the festival's hostess. The opening film of the festival was Baarìa by Giuseppe Tornatore and the closing film was Chengdu, I Love You by Fruit Chan and Cui Jian.

The international competition jury, chaired by Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee, awarded the Golden Lion to Lebanon by Samuel Maoz.

Juries
The international juries of the 66th Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows:

Main competition (Venezia 66)

 * Ang Lee, Taiwanese filmmaker and producer - Jury President
 * Sergei Bodrov, Russian filmmaker and producer
 * Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress and filmmaker
 * Liliana Cavani, Italian filmmaker
 * Joe Dante, American director, producer, editor and actor
 * Anurag Kashyap, Indian director, writer, producer and actor
 * Luciano Ligabue, Italian director, writer and singer-songwriter

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Pere Portabella, Spanish politician, director, and producer - Jury President
 * Bady Minck, Luxembourger filmmaker and artist
 * Gina Kim, South Korean filmmaker and academic
 * Garin Nugroho, Indonesian director
 * Gianfranco Rosi, Italian director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter

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

 * Haile Gerima, Ethiopian filmmaker - Jury President
 * Ramin Bahrani, American director and screenwriter
 * Gianni Di Gregorio, Italian director, screenwriter and actor
 * Antoine Fuqua, American director and producer
 * Sam Taylor-Wood, English filmmaker and photographer

Corto-Cortissimo (Short Film Competition)

 * Stuart Gordon American filmmaker, theater director and playwright - Jury President
 * Steve Ricci, Italian cinematographer, screenwriter and editor
 * Sitora Alieva, Russian artistic director of the International Film Festival Kinotav

Controcampo Italiano

 * Carlo Lizzani, Italian director, screenwriter and critic - Jury President
 * Giulio Questi, Italian director and screenwriter
 * Marina Sanna, Italian chief editor of cinema magazine

In Competition
The following films competed for the Golden Lion:


 * Highlighted title indicates Golden Lion for best film.

Out of Competition
The following films were screened as Out of competition:

Corto Cortissimo (Short Film Competition)
The following films were selected for the Corto Cortissimo (Short film competition) section:


 * Highlighted title indicates Corto Cortissimo Lion winner.

Horizons (Orizzonti)
The following films were selected for the Horizons (Orizzonti) section:
 * Highlighted title indicates the Lion of the Future winner

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement
As part of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2009, which was conferred to John Lasseter and the Directors of Disney-Pixar, the following American animation films were presented:
 * The Incredibles by Brad Bird
 * Up by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
 * Toy Story 3-D by John Lasseter
 * Toy Story 2 3-D by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon
 * Finding Nemo by Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich

Cortocampo Italiano
The following films, representing "new trends in Italian cinema", were screened in this section:

Italian Retrospective: These Phantoms 2
For this retrospective section on Italian cinema, 39 feature and 26 short films were screened, including documentaries. The films were mainly from the period 1946 - 1971, with a few only films going back to the 1930s and reaching up to 2009.

Venice International Film Critics' Week
The following films were selected for the 24th International Film Critics' Week:

Venice Days
The following films were selected for the 6th edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:

Official Awards
The following Official Awards were conferred at the 66th edition of the festival:

In competition (Venezia 66)

 * Golden Lion: Lebanon by Samuel Maoz
 * Silver Lion for Best Director: Shirin Neshat for Women Without Men
 * Special Jury Prize: Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akın
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Colin Firth for A Single Man
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Kseniya Rappoport for The Double Hour
 * Marcello Mastroianni Award: Jasmine Trinca for The Big Dream
 * Golden Osella for Outstanding Technical Contribution: Sylvie Olivé for Mr. Nobody
 * Golden Osella for Best Screenplay: Todd Solondz for Life During Wartime

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Best Film: Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno
 * Best Documentary: 1428 by Haibin Du
 * Special mention: The Man's Woman and Other Stories by Amit Dutta

Luigi De Laurentis Award for a Debut Film

 * Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

 * Best Short Film: Firstborn by Etienne Kallos
 * Venice Nomination to the European Film Awards 2009: Sinner by Meni Philip
 * Special mention: Felicità by Salomé Aleksi

Controcampo Italiano

 * Best Feature Film: Cosmonaut by Susanna Nicchiarelli
 * Special Mention: In the Eyes by Francesco Del Grosso, Daniele Anzellotti

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

 * John Lasseter

Special awards

 * Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award: Sylvester Stallone
 * Persol 3-D Award for Best Stereoscopic Film: The Hole by Joe Dante (Out of competition)

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

Venice International Film Critics' Week

 * "Region of Veneto for quality cinema" Award: Tehroun by Takmil Homayoun Nader
 * Future Film Festival Digital Award: Metropia by Tarik Saleh
 * Special Mention: Up by Pete Docter

Venice Days (Giornati degli Autori)

 * Label Europa Cinemas Award: The Last Days of Emma Blank by Alex van Warmerdam

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

FIPRESCI Award

 * Best Film (Main competition): Lourdes by Jessica Hausner
 * Best Film (Horizons): Adrift by Bui Thac Chuyen

Queer Lion

 * A Single Man by Tom Ford

SIGNIS Award

 * Lourdes by Jessica Hausner
 * Special mention: Lebanon by Samuel Maoz

Francesco Pasinetti Award (SNGCI)

 * Best Film: The White Space by Francesca Comencini
 * Best Director: Giuseppe Tornatore for Baarìa
 * Best Actor: Filippo Timi for The Double Hour
 * Best Actress: Margherita Buy for The White Space
 * Special award: Riccardo Scamarcio for The Big Dream
 * Special award: Armando Testa – Povero ma moderno by Pappi Corsicato

Leoncino d'oro Agiscuola Award

 * Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore

La Navicella – Venezia Cinema Award

 * Lourdes by Jessica Hausner

C.I.C.T. UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award

 * The Traveller by Ahmad Maher

UNICEF Award

 * Women Without Men by Shirin Neshat

Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Special Award

 * Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans by Werner Herzog

Biografilm Lancia Award

 * Best Fiction Film: Mr. Nobody by Jaco Van Dormael
 * Best Documentary: In the Eyes by Francesco Del Grosso & Daniele Anzellotti

Brian Prize by UAAR

 * Lourdes by Jessica Hausner

Lanterna Magica Award (Cgs)

 * Cosmonauta by Susanna Nicchiarelli

FEDIC Award

 * The White Space by Francesca Comencini
 * Special Mention: What Do You Know About Me by Valerio Jalongo

Arca Cinemagiovani Awards

 * Best Film: Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akin
 * Best Italian Film: The Double Hour by Giuseppe Capotondi

Lina Mangiacapre Award

 * Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story by Yousry Nasrallah

Air For Film Fest Award

 * The White Space by Francesca Comencini

Open Award 2009

 * Capitalism: A love story by Michael Moore

Gianni Astrei Award

 * The White Space by Francesca Comencini