The 61st annual Venice International Film Festival was the 2004 edition of the Venice International Film Festival, held between 1 and 11 September 2004. The festival opened with Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, and closed with Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy. The Golden Lion was awarded to Vera Drake, directed by Mike Leigh. On this edition, a new independent section, Venice Days (Giornate degli autori), was created "for free cinema, new talents and new stories". This section is organized by the ANAC (National Association of Cinematographic Authors) and the API (Independent Authors & Producers). Also in this edition, The Secret History of Italian Cinema was launched, a new official retrospective section, with the aim of restoring and systematically rediscovering sides of the Italian cinema that have been "forgotten, invisible, unknown or misunderstood". The retrospective was planned for the following four editions (61st to 64th editions), later was extended with the These Phantoms: Italian Cinema Rediscovered (65th edition), and the Italian Comedy Retrospective (66th edition). The Fondazione Prada was the main sponsor/partner of this section.

Juries

The following people comprised the 2004 juries:

Main Competition (Venezia 61)

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Venezia Cinema Digitale

Official Sections

In Competition

The main competitive section of the official selection is an international competition of feature films running for the Golden Lion.

Out of Competition

The following films of the official selection were screened as "out of competition":

Horizons (Orizzonti)

A section aiming to provide a picture of the new trends in cinema.

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

The following films, whose length does not exceed 30 minutes, were selected for the Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo):

Venetian Nights

The following films were screened for the Venetian Nights section (Venezia Mezzanotte):

Venice Digital Cinema

A section intended to provide an overview of the new expressive possibilities granted by digital technologies.

Retrospective - The Secret History of Italian Cinema 1

A new retrospective section on Italian Cinema aiming to restore and systematically rediscover sides of the Italian cinema That Have Been "Forgotten, Invisible, Unknown Or Misunderstood". This first edition of the retrospective is titled Italian Kings of the B's.

Independent Sections

Venice International Film Critics' Week

The following feature films were selected to be screened as In Competition for this section:

Venice Days

The following films were selected for the 1st edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:

Official Awards

The following Official Awards were conferred at the 61st edition:

In Competition (Venezia 61)

Golden Lion for lifetime achievement

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Digital Cinema Award

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

"Luigi de Laurentis" Award For A Debut Film (Lion of the Future)

Independents Awards

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

Venice International Film Critics' Week

FIPRESCI Prize

SIGNS Award

C.I.C.A.E. Award

UNICEF Award

UNESCO Award

Pasinetti Award

Isvema Award

FEDIC Award

Little Golden Lion

Venice Days - Label Europa Cinemas

Young Cinema Award

"Lino Miccichè" First Feature Award

Open Prize

Lina Mangiacapre Award

Future Film Festival Digital Award

Laterna Magica Prize

Sergio Trasatti Award

CinemAvvenire Award

Award of the City of Rome

International Peace Award

Human Rights Film Network Award

EIUC Award

Special Director's Award

Special Pasinetti Award