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)

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Opera Prima ("Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film)

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

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.

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.

Corto Cortissimo

International competition of 35mm short films, in world premiere, not exceeding 30 minutes in length.

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 for Lifetime Achievement

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

Luigi De Laurentis Award for a Debut Film

Independent Sections Awards

The following official and collateral awards were conferred to films of the autonomous sections:

Venice International Film Critics' Week

Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori)

Independent Awards

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

FIPRESCI Award

SIGNIS Award

UNICEF Award

UNESCO Award

Francesco Pasinetti Award (SNGCI)

Pietro Bianchi Award

FEDIC Award

Little Golden Lion

Young Cinema Award – Best International Film

Wella Prize

Open Prize

Doc/It Award

Future Film Festival Digital Award

Laterna Magica Prize

Biografilm Award

CinemAvvenire Award

Cinema for Peace Award

Award of the City of Rome

Human Rights Film Network Award

EIUC Award

Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award

Gucci Award

The numbers and the nations of the 63rd Show