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 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
- Ang Lee, Taiwanese director, screenwriter and producer
- Sergei Bodrov, Russian director, screenwriter and producer
- Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress, director and screenwriter
- Liliana Cavani, Italian director and screenwriter
- Joe Dante, American director, producer, editor and actor
- Anurag Kashyap, Indian director, writer, producer and actor
- Luciano Ligabue, Italian director, writer and singer-songwriter
- Pere Portabella, Spanish politician, director, and producer
- 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
- Haile Gerima, Ethiopian filmmaker
- 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
- Stuart Gordon American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter and playwright
- Steve Ricci, Italian cinematographer, screenwriter and editor
- Sitora Alieva, Russian artistic director of the International Film Festival Kinotav
- Carlo Lizzani, Italian director, screenwriter and critic
- Giulio Questi, Italian director and screenwriter
- Marina Sanna, Italian chief editor of cinema magazine
Official selection
In competition
The following films competed for the Golden Lion:Out of competition
The following films were screened as Out of competition:Short film competition
The following films were selected for the Short film competition section:Horizons
The following films were selected for the Horizons section: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
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.This is a list of the fiction feature films screened:
Autonomous sections
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 autonomous section:Awards
Official selection
The following Official Awards were conferred at the 66th edition of the festival:In competition
- 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, for the best emerging actor or actress: Jasmine Trinca for The Big Dream
- Osella for Outstanding Technical Contribution: Sylvie Olivé for Mr. Nobody
- Osella for Best Screenplay: Todd Solondz for Life During Wartime
- Best Film: Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno
- Best Documentary: 1428 by Haibin Du
- Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film: Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno
- Best Short Film: Firstborn by Etienne Kallos
- Venice Nomination to the European Film Awards 2009: Sinner by Meni Philip
- Best feature Film: Cosmonaut by Susanna Nicchiarelli
- Special Lion for Overall Work: John Lasseter and the Directors of Disney-Pixar
- Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award: Sylvester Stallone
- Persol 3-D Award for Best Stereoscopic Film: The Hole by Joe Dante
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 for Up by Pete Docter
- Label Europa Cinemas Award: The Last Days of Emma Blank by Alex van Warmerdam
Other collateral awards
- FIPRESCI Award :
- *Best Film : Lourdes by Jessica Hausner
- *Best Film : Adrift by Bui Thac Chuyen
- SIGNIS Award: Lourdes by Jessica Hausner
- Francesco Pasinetti Award :
- *Best Director: Giuseppe Tornatore for Baarìa
- *Best Film: The White Space by Francesca Comencini
- *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: ' 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: ' 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
- Queer Lion for the best Movie with LGBT Themes & Queer Culture: A Single Man by Tom Ford
- Brian Prize by UAAR: Lourdes by Jessica Hausner
- Lanterna Magica Award : Cosmonauta by Susanna Nicchiarelli
- FEDIC Award: The White Space by Francesca Comencini
- Arca Cinemagiovani Awards:
- *Best Film Venezia 66: 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