The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 2 September 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone d'Oro to Lebanon. The festival was closed on 12 September 2009, with Maria Grazia Cucinotta serving as the festival's hostess.
The following 25 films competed for the Leone d'oro.
The following films were shown out of competition:
The international juries of the 66th Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows:
Ang Lee (head of jury)
Sergei Bodrov
Sandrine Bonnaire
Liliana Cavani
Joe Dante
Anurag Kashyap
Luciano Ligabue
Pere Portabella (head of jury)
Bady Minck
Gina Kim
Garin Nugroho
Gianfranco Rosi
Haile Gerima (head of jury)
Ramin Bahrani
Gianni Di Gregorio
Antoine Fuqua
Sam Taylor-Wood
Stuart Gordon (head of jury)
Steve Ricci
Alieva Sitora
Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion) for the best film: Lebanon
Leone d'Argento (Silver Lion) for the best director: Shirin Neshat, for Women Without Men
Special Jury Prize: Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akın
Coppa Volpi for the Best Actor: Colin Firth, for A Single Man
Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress: Kseniya Rappoport, for The Double Hour
Premio Marcello Mastroianni, 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
"Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film: Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno
Controcampo italiano prize (Feature film): to Cosmonaut by Susanna Nicchiarelli
Premio Orizzonti (Orizzonti prize): Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
Premio Orizzonti awards for documentary film: 1428 by Haibin Du (China)
Special Mentions:
The Man's Woman and Other Stories by Amit Dutta (India)
Leoncino d'oro Agiscuola: Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore;
32/a segnalazione Cinema for UNICEF: Women Without Men by Shirin Neshat;
Premio Label by Europa Cinemas for best European film in Venice Days section: The Last Days of Emma Blank by Alex van Warmerdam;
Premio 'Francesco Pasinetti' by Sngci for best film: Lo spazio bianco by Francesca Comencini;
Premio 'Francesco Pasinetti' by Sngci for best actor: The Double Hour by Filippo Timi;
Premio 'Francesco Pasinetti' by Sngci for best actress: Lo spazio bianco by Margherita Buy;
Premio 'Francesco Pasinetti' by Sngci for best director: Baarìa by Giuseppe Tornatore;
Future Film Festival Digital Award: Metropia by Tarik Saleh and special mention for Up by Pete Docter;
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.
