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)

Horizons (Orizzonti)

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

Corto-Cortissimo (Short Film Competition)

Controcampo Italiano

Official Sections

In Competition

The following films competed for the Golden Lion:

Out of Competition

The following films were screened as Out of competition:

Corto Cortissimo (Short Film Competition)

The following films were selected for the Corto Cortissimo (Short film competition) section:

Horizons (Orizzonti)

The following films were selected for the Horizons (Orizzonti) section:

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:

Cortocampo Italiano

The following films, representing "new trends in Italian cinema", were screened in this section:

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.

Independent Sections

Venice International Film Critics' Week

The following films were selected for the 24th International Film Critics' Week:

Venice Days

The following films were selected for the 6th edition of Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) autonomous section:

Official Awards

The following Official Awards were conferred at the 66th edition of the festival:

In competition (Venezia 66)

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Luigi De Laurentis Award for a Debut Film

Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo)

Controcampo Italiano

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

Special awards

Independent Sections Awards

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

Venice International Film Critics' Week

Venice Days (Giornati degli Autori)

Independent Awards

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

FIPRESCI Award

Queer Lion

SIGNIS Award

Francesco Pasinetti Award (SNGCI)

Leoncino d'oro Agiscuola Award

La Navicella – Venezia Cinema Award

C.I.C.T. UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award

UNICEF Award

Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Special Award

Biografilm Lancia Award

Brian Prize by UAAR

Lanterna Magica Award (Cgs)

FEDIC Award

Arca Cinemagiovani Awards

Lina Mangiacapre Award

Air For Film Fest Award

Open Award 2009

Gianni Astrei Award