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

Official Sections

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.
{| class="wikitable" style="width:95%; margin-bottom:0px"
|-
! English title
! Original title
! Director(s)
! Production country
|-
| Black Book || Zwartboek || data-sort-value="Verhoeven"| Paul Verhoeven || Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom
|-
| colspan=2 data-sort-value="Black D"| The Black Dahlia (opening film)|| data-sort-value="De Palma" | Brian De Palma || United States, Germany
|-
| colspan=2| Bobby || data-sort-value="Estevez"| Emilio Estevez || United States
|-
| colspan=2| Children of Men || data-sort-value="Cuarón"| Alfonso Cuarón || United Kingdom, United States, Japan
|-
| Dry Season || Daratt || data-sort-value="Haroun"| Mahamat Saleh Haroun || Chad, France, Belgium, Austria
|-
| Euphoria || Эйфория || data-sort-value="Vyrypaev" | Ivan Vyrypaev || Russia
|-
| Exiled || 放‧逐 || data-sort-value="To" | Johnnie To || Hong Kong, China
|-
| Falling || Fallen || data-sort-value="Albert"| Barbara Albert || Austria
|-
| colspan=2 data-sort-value="Fountain"| The Fountain || data-sort-value="Aronofsky"| Darren Aronofsky || rowspan="2" | United States
|-
| colspan=2| Hollywoodland || data-sort-value="Coulter"| Allen Coulter 
|-
| I Don't Want to Sleep Alone || 黑眼圈 || data-sort-value="Ming-liang" | Tsai Ming-liang || Malaysia, Taiwan
|-
| data-sort-value="Missing"| The Missing Star || data-sort-value="Stella"| La stella che non c'è || data-sort-value="Amelio"| Gianni Amelio || Italy
|-
| Mushishi 
|蟲師|| data-sort-value="Otomo" | Katsuhiro Otomo || Japan
|-
| The Golden Door || Nuovomondo || data-sort-value="Crialese"| Emanuele Crialese || Italy, France
|-
| Paprika || パプリカ || data-sort-value="Kon" | Satoshi Kon || Japan
|-
| Private Fears in Public Places || Cœurs || data-sort-value="Resnais"| Alain Resnais || France, Italy
|-
| Private Property || Nue Propriété || data-sort-value="Lafosse"| Joachim Lafosse || Belgium, Luxembourg, France
|-
| colspan=2 data-sort-value="Queen"| The Queen || data-sort-value="Frears"| Stephen Frears || United Kingdom
|-style="background:#E7CD00;"
| Still Life || 三峡好人|| data-sort-value="Zhangke" | Jia Zhangke || China|-
| Syndromes and a Century || Sang sattawat   || data-sort-value="Weerasethakul"| Apichatpong Weerasethakul || Thailand, France
|-
| These Encounters of Theirs || Quei loro incontri || data-sort-value="Straub"| Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet|| Italy, France
|-
| data-sort-value="Untouchable"| The Untouchable || data-sort-value="Intouchable"| L'intouchable || data-sort-value="Jacquot"| Benoît Jacquot || France 
|}
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.

Independent Sections
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 
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 FrearsBest 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 StarBest Actress: Laura Morante for Private Fears in Public PlacesBest 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

References

External links

Venice Film Festival 2006 Awards on IMDb

Venice Film Festival
Venice
Venice
Venice
Film
August 2006 events in Europe
September 2006 events in Europe