# 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

## Official Sections
### In Competition

The following films competed for the Golden Lion:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Accident | 意外 | Cheang Pou-Soi | China（Hong Kong） |
| Around a Small Mountain | 36 vues du pic Saint-Loup | Jacques Rivette | France, Italy |
| Baarìa (opening film) | Baarìa (opening film) | Giuseppe Tornatore | Italy, France |
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | Werner Herzog | United States |
| Between Two Worlds | Ahasin Wetei | Vimukthi Jayasundara | Sri Lanka |
| The Big Dream | Il grande sogno | Michele Placido | Italy, France |
| Capitalism: A Love Story | Capitalism: A Love Story | Michael Moore | United States |
| The Double Hour | La doppia ora | Giuseppe Capotondi | Italy |
| Grandmother | Lola | Brillante Mendoza | France, Philippines |
| Lebanon | Lebanon | Samuel Maoz | Israel, France, Germany, United Kingdom |
| Life During Wartime | Life During Wartime | Todd Solondz | United States |
| Lourdes | Lourdes | Jessica Hausner | Austria |
| Mr Nobody | Mr Nobody | Jaco van Dormael | Belgium, Canada, France, Germany |
| My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done | My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done | Werner Herzog | United States |
| Persécution | Persécution | Patrice Chéreau | France |
| Prince of Tears | 淚王子 | Yonfan | Taiwan |
| The Road | The Road | John Hillcoat | United States |
| A Single Man | A Single Man | Tom Ford | United States |
| Soul Kitchen | Soul Kitchen | Fatih Akın | Germany |
| Survival of the Dead | Survival of the Dead | George A. Romero | Canada, United States |
| Tetsuo: The Bullet Man | Tetsuo Project | Shinya Tsukamoto | Japan |
| The Traveller | المسافر | Ahmad Maher | Egypt, Italy |
| White Material | White Material | Claire Denis | France |
| The White Space | Lo spazio bianco | Francesca Comencini | Italy |
| Women Without Men | Zanan-e bedun-e mardan | Shirin Neshat | Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Ukraine, Morocco |
    Highlighted title indicates Golden Lion for best film.

### Out of Competition

The following films were screened as Out of competition:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Brooklyn's Finest | Brooklyn's Finest | Antoine Fuqua | United States |
| Chengdu, I Love You (closing film) | 成都我爱你 | Fruit Chan, Cui Jian | China |
| Delhi-6 | Delhi-6 | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra | India |
| Dev.D | Dev.D | Anurag Kashyap | India |
| Great Directors | Great Directors | Angela Ismailos | United States |
| Green Days | Ruzhaye Sabz | Hana Makhmalbaf | Iran |
| Gulaal | गुलाल | Anurag Kashyap | India |
| The Hole | The Hole | Joe Dante | United States |
| The Informant! | The Informant! | Steven Soderbergh | United States |
| The Men Who Stare at Goats | The Men Who Stare at Goats | Grant Heslov | United States |
| Napoli, Napoli, Napoli | Napoli, Napoli, Napoli | Abel Ferrara | Italy |
| L'oro di Cuba | L'oro di Cuba | Giuliano Montaldo | Italy |
| Rambo (Director's Cut) | Rambo (Director's Cut) | Sylvester Stallone | United States |
| REC 2 | REC 2 | Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Spain |
| The Red Shadows | Le ombre rosse | Francesco Maselli | Italy |
| Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy | Prove per una tragedia siciliana | Roman Paska, John Turturro | Italy |
| Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story | إحكي يا شهرزاد | Yousry Nasrallah | Egypt |
| South of the Border | South of the Border | Oliver Stone | United States |
| Valhalla Rising | Valhalla Rising | Nicolas Winding Refn | Denmark, United Kingdom |
| Yona Yona Penguin | よなよなペンギン | Rintaro | Japan, France |

### Corto Cortissimo (Short Film Competition)

The following films were selected for the Corto Cortissimo (Short film competition) section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| In competition ||||
| Felicità | Felicità | Salome Aleksi | Georgia |
| The Kinematograph | Kinematograf | Tomek Baginski | Poland |
| I Know There’s a Man | So Che C'è Un Uomo | Gianclaudio Cappai | Italy |
| This Is Earth, My Brother | To je zemljia, brat moj | Jan Cvitkovič | Slovenia, Italy |
| Still Birds | Alle Fugler | Sara Eliassen | Norway |
| Bliss | O Teu Sorriso | Pedro Freire | Brazil |
| The Game | Il Gioco | Adriano Giannini | Italy |
| Object #1 | Object #1 | Murad Ibragimbekov | Russia |
| Girllikeme | Girllikeme | Rowland Jobson | United Kingdom |
| Firstborn | Eersgeborene | Etienne Kallos | South Africa, United States |
| Mom’S Vacation | Umma-E Huga | Kwang-Bok Kim | South Korea |
| Storage | Storage | David Lea | United Kingdom |
| Of Clouds and Hands | Nuvole, Mani | Simone Massi | France |
| Sinner | Sinner | Meni Philip | Israel |
| Family Jewels | Family Jewels | Martin Stitt | United States, United Kingdom |
| For Two | Er Ren | Shijie Tan | Singapore |
| Bicycle | Jitensha | Dean Yamada | Japan, United States |
| Kingyo | Kingyo | Edmund Yeo | Japan, Malaysia |
| Out of Competition ||||
| Plastic Bag (Opening film) | Plastic Bag (Opening film) | Ramin Bahrani | United States |
| The It.Aliens (Closing Film) | The It.Aliens (Closing Film) | Clemens Klopfenstein, Lukas Klopfenstein | Italy, Switzerland |
| Special Events ||||
| Recordare | Recordare | Leonardo Carrano, Alessandro Pierattini | Italy |
| The City in the Sky | La città nel cielo | Giacomo Cimini | United Kingdom, Italy |
| The Second Family | La seconda famiglia | Alberto Dall'Ara | Italy |
| Earth | Earth | Tzu Nyen Ho | Singapore |
| Radio | Radio | Riccardo Pugliese | United States, Italy |
| War | Uerra | Paolo Sassanelli | Italy |
| A la lune montante | A la lune montante | Annarita Zambrano | France |
    Highlighted title indicates Corto Cortissimo Lion winner.

### Horizons (Orizzonti)

The following films were selected for the Horizons (Orizzonti) section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| 1428 | 1428 | Haibin Du | China |
| Adrift | Choi voi | Bui Thac Chuyen | Vietnam |
| Bets and Wedding Dresses | Tris di donne & abiti nuziali | Vincenzo Terracciano | Italy |
| Buried Secrets | Dowaha | Raja Amari | Tunisia |
| Clash | Engkwentro | Pepe Diokno | Philippines |
| The Color of Words | Il colore delle parole | Marco Simon Puccioni | Italy |
| Cow | 斗牛 | Guan Hu | China |
| Crush | Korotkoe zamykanie | Pyotr Buslov, Alexei German Jr., Boris Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vyrypaev | Russia |
| Francesca (Opening film) | Francesca (Opening film) | Bobby Paunescu | Romania |
| I Am Love | Io sono l'amore | Luca Guadagnino | Italy |
| I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You | Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo | Marcelo Gomes, Karim Aïnouz | Brazil |
| Judge | 透析 | Jie Liu | China |
| The Man’s Woman and Other Stories | Aadmi ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya | Amit Dutta | India |
| The Movie Orgy - Ultimate Version | The Movie Orgy - Ultimate Version | Joe Dante | United States |
| Once Upon a Time Proletarian | 曾经的无产者 | Xiaolu Guo | China |
| The One All Alone | The One All Alone | Frank Scheffer | Netherlands |
| One-Zero | Wahed-Sefr | Kamla Abou Zekry | Egypt |
| Paraiso | Paraiso | Héctor Gálvez | Peru |
| Pepperminta | Pepperminta | Pipilotti Rist | Switzerland |
| Repo Chick | Repo Chick | Alex Cox | United States |
| Sunstroke | Insolação | Felipe Hirsch, Daniela Thomas | Brazil |
| Tender Parasites | Zarte Parasiten | Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe | Germany |
| Totò | Totò | Peter Schreiner | Austria |
| Villalobos | Villalobos | Romuald Karmakar | Germany |
| Woman on Fire Looks for Water | Woman on Fire Looks for Water | Woo Ming Jin | Malaysia, South Korea |
| Horizons Events ||||
| Armando Testa - Povero ma moderno | Armando Testa - Povero ma moderno | Pappi Corsicato | Italy |
| The Marriage | The Marriage | Peter Greenaway | Italy, Spain |
| Reading Book of Blockade | Chitaem 'Blokadnuju knigu' | Alexander Sokurov | Russia |
| The Death of Pentheus | The Death of Pentheus | Philip Haas | United States |
| La Bohème | La Bohème | Werner Herzog | United Kingdom |
| Faces of Seoul | Seo-wool eui ul-gul | Gina Kim | United States, South Korea |
| Hugo en Afrique | Hugo en Afrique | Stefano Knuchel | Switzerland |
| Via della croce | Via della croce | Serena Nono | Italy |
| Mudanza (short) | Mudanza (short) | Pere Portabella | Spain |
| Deserto rosa. Luigi Ghirri | Deserto rosa. Luigi Ghirri | Elisabetta Sgarbi | Italy |
| La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet | La danse - Le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris | Frederick Wiseman | France, United States |
| Cock-Crow | Cock-Crow | David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi | Italy |
| Italy ||
    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:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) |
| Cosmonaut | Cosmonauta | Susanna Nicchiarelli |
| David's Birthday | Il Compleanno | Marco Filiberti |
| Giuseppe De Santis | Giuseppe De Santis | Carlo Lizzani |
| Hollywood on the Tiber | Hollywood sul Tevere | Marco Spagnoli |
| In the Eyes | Negli occhi | Francesco Del Grosso, Daniele Anzellotti |
| The Little | Il Piccolo | Maurizio Zaccaro |
| Poets | Poeti | Toni D'Angelo |
| Sputnik 5 | Sputnik 5 | Susanna Nicchiarelli |
| Ten Winters | Dieci Inverni | Valerio Mieli |

### 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.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) |
| Accidenti alla guerra!... (1948) | Accidenti alla guerra!... (1948) | Giorgio Simonelli |
| Break Up (1965) | L'uomo dei cinque palloni | Marco Ferreri |
| Carmen di Trastevere (1963) | Carmen di Trastevere (1963) | Carmine Gallone |
| Death of a Friend (1959) | Morte di un amico | Franco Rossi |
| Dreams Die at Dawn (1961) | I sogni muoiono all'alba | Indro Montanelli, Enrico Gras, Mario Craveri |
| Easy Years (1953) | Anni facili | Luigi Zampa |
| Un eroe del nostro tempo (1960) | Un eroe del nostro tempo (1960) | Sergio Capogna |
| The Flame That Will Not Die (1949) | La Fiamma che non si spegne | Vittorio Cottafavi |
| Galileo (1968) | Galileo (1968) | Liliana Cavani |
| Girl in the Window (1961) | La ragazza in vetrina | Luciano Emmer |
| The Great War (1959) | La grande guerra | Mario Monicelli |
| House of Ricordi (1954) | Casa Ricordi | Carmine Gallone |
| Hurricane Rosy (1979) | Temporale Rosy | Mario Monicelli |
| The Invisible Ones (1988) | Gli Invisibili | Pasquale Squitieri |
| Kill the Fatted Calf and Roast It (1970) | Uccidete il vitello grasso e arrostitelo | Salvatore Samperi |
| Love in Rome (1960) | Un amore a Roma | Dino Risi |
| The Lovemakers (1961) | La viaccia | Mauro Bolognini |
| Margherita and Her Three Uncles (1942) | Margherita fra i tre | Ivo Perilli |
| The Naked Hours (1964) | Le ore nude | Marco Vicario |
| Nerosubianco (1968) | Nerosubianco (1968) | Tinto Brass |
| Noi cannibali (1953) | Noi cannibali (1953) | Antonio Leonviola |
| One Between the Crowd (1946) | Uno tra la folla | Ennio Cerlesi, Piero Tellini |
| Princess Cinderella (1941) | Cenerentola e il Signor Bonaventura | Sergio Tofano |
| A Quiet Place in the Country (1969) | Un tranquillo posto di campagna | Elio Petri |
| The Reunion (1963) | La Rimpatriata | Damiano Damiani |
| The Ship of Condemned Women (1954) | La nave delle donne maledette | Raffaello Matarazzo |
| Stories in the Sand (1963) | Storie sulla sabbia | Riccardo Fellini |
| The Stranger's Hand (1954) | La mano dello straniero | Mario Soldati |
| Il tramontana (1965) | Il tramontana (1965) | Adriano Barbano |
| Tre nel mille (1971) | Tre nel mille (1971) | Franco Indovina |
| The Wanderers (1956) | I girovaghi | Hugo Fregonese |
| Women Without Names (1950) | Donne senza nome | Géza von Radványi |

## Independent Sections
### Venice International Film Critics' Week

The following films were selected for the 24th International Film Critics' Week:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| In competition ||||
| Cafe Noir | Ka-pe-neu-wa-reu | Jung Sung-il | South Korea |
| A Rational Solution | Det enda rationella | Jörgen Bergmark | Sweden |
| Domain | Domaine | Patric Chiha | France, Austria |
| Crawfishlike | Kakraki | Ilya Demichev | Russia |
| Foxes | Lištičky | Mira Fornay | Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland |
| Tehroun | Téhéran | Nader T. Homayoun | France, Iran |
| Out of competition ||||
| Metropia (opening film) | Metropia (opening film) | Tarik Saleh | Sweden |
| The Pothole (closing film) | Chaleh | Ali Karim | Iran |
| Videocracy | Videocracy | Erik Gandini | Sweden |

### Venice Days

The following films were selected for the 6th edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| In competition ||||
| The Ape | Apan | Jesper Ganslandt | Sweden |
| Barking Water | Barking Water | Sterlin Harjo | United States |
| Blood and Rain | La sangre y la lluvia | Jorge Navas | Colombia, Argentina |
| Cell 211 | Celda 211 | Daniel Monzón | Spain, France |
| Desert Flower | Desert Flower | Sherry Hormann | United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France |
| Fat People | Gordos | Daniel Sánchez Arévalo | Spain |
| France | Francia | Israel Adrián Caetano | Argentina |
| Harragas | Harragas | Merzak Allouache | Algeria, France |
| Honeymoons | Honeymoons | Goran Paskaljevic | Serbia, Albania |
| The Horde | La horde | Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher | France |
| Hymn to Love | L’amore e basta | Stefano Consiglio | Italy |
| I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive | Je suis heureux que ma mere soit vivante | Claude Miller, Nathan Miller | France |
| The Last Days of Emma Blank | De laatste Dagen van Emma Blank | Alex van Warmerdam | Netherlands |
| Mille giorni di Vito | Mille giorni di Vito | Elisabetta Pandimiglio | Italy |
| Poetry, You See Me | Poesia che mi guardi | Marina Spada | Italy |
| Silent Voice | Qu’un seul tienne et les autres suivront | Léa Fehner | France |
| What Do You Know About Me | Di me cosa ne sai | Valerio Jalongo | Italy |
| Out of competition ||||
| Ragazze la vita trema | Ragazze la vita trema | Paola Sangiovanni | Italy |
| The Swindlers (1959) | I magliari | Francesco Rosi | Italy, France |
| Teat Beat of Sex | Teat Beat of Sex | Signe Baumane | United States |
| Videocracy | Videocracy | Erik Gandini | Sweden |
| Vittorio D | Vittorio D | Mario Canale, Annarosa Morri | Italy |

## 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