The Venice Film Festival (it: Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica) is the oldest Film Festival in the World (began in the 1932) and takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy.

Its main award is the "Leone d'Oro" (Golden Lion). Recently, a new award has been added, the San Marco Award for the best film in the "controcorrente" section.

The Venice Film Festival is part of the Venice Biennale, a major biennial exhibition and festival for contemporary art.

The festival in 2004 held from 1 September to 11 September was the 61st. For the 2005 festival see the 62nd Venice International Film Festival.

Golden Lion winners

Other awards

Mussolini Cup for best Italian Film

• 1934 Teresa confalonieri by Guido Brignone
• 1935 Casta Diva by Carmine Gallone
• 1936 Squadrone bianco by Augusto Genina
• 1937 Scipione l'Africano by Carmine Gallone
• 1938 Luciano serra pilota by Goffredo Alessandrini
• 1939 Abuna Messias by Goffredo Alessandrini
• 1940 L'assedio dell'Alcazar by Augusto Genina
• 1941 La coronoa di ferro by Alessandro Blasetti
• 1942 Bengasi by Augusto Genina

Mussolini Cup for best foreign film

• 1934 Man of Aran by Robert J. Flaherty
• 1935 Anna Karenina by Clarence Brown
• 1936 Der Kaiser von Kalifornien by Luis Trenker
• 1937 Un carnet de bal by Julien Duvivier
• 1938 Olympia 1.Teil – Fest der Völker by Leni Riefenstahl
• 1940 Der Postmeister by Gustav Ucicky
• 1941 Ohm Krüger by Hans Steinhoff
• 1942 Der große König by Veit Harlan

Best director awards

• 1935 King Vidor for The Wedding Night
• 1936 Jacques Feyder for La Kermesse Héroique
• 1937 Robert J. Flaherty & Zoltan Korda for Elephant Boy
• 1938 Carl Froelich for Heimat

Silver Lion best direction

• 1990 Martin Scorsese for Goodfellas
• 1992 Bigas Luna for Jamón, jamón
• 1994 Gianni Amelio for Lamerica
• 1995 Abolfazi Jalili for Det Yani Dokhtar
• 1996 Kenneth Branagh for In the Bleak Midwinter (A Midwinter's Tale)
• 1997 Hirokazu Koreeda for Maboroshi no hikari
• 1998 Emir Kusturica for Crna Macka, Beli Macor
• 1999 Zhang Yuan for Guo Niam Hui Jia
• 2003 Takeshi Kitano for Zatoichi
• 2004 Kim Ki-duk for 3-Iron
• 2005 Philippe Garrel for Les Amants Réguliers

Silver Lion – Jury's special award

• 2005 Abel Ferrara for Mary

Best actor awards

• 1932 Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
• 1934 Wallace Berry in Viva Villa!

Volpi Cup best actor

• 1935 Pierre Blanchard in Crime Et Châtiment
• 1936 Paul Muni in The Story Of Louis Pasteur
• 1937 Emil Jannings in Der Herrscher
• 1938 Leslie Howard in Pygmalion
• 1941 Ermete Zacconi in Don Buonaparte
• 1942 Fosco Giachetti in Bengasi
• 1947 Pierre Fresnay in Monsieur Vincent
• 1948 Ernst Deutsch in Der Prozess
• 1949 Joseph Cotten in Portrait of Jennie
• 1950 Sam Jaffe in Asphalt Jungle
• 1951 Jean Gabin in La Nuit est Mon Royaume
• 1952 Fredric March in Death of a Salesman
• 1953 Henri Vilbert in Le Bon Dieu Sans Confession
• 1954 Jean Gabin in L'air De Paris in Touchez Pas au Grisbi
• 1955 Curd Jürgens in Les Héros Sont Fatigués
• 1955 Kenneth More in The Deep Blue Sea
• 1956 Bourvil in La Traversée de Paris
• 1957 Anthony Franciosa in A Hatful of Rain
• 1958 Alec Guinness in The Horse's Mouth
• 1959 James Stewart in Anatomy of A Murder
• 1960 John Mills in Tunes of Glory
• 1961 Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo
• 1962 Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz
• 1963 Albert Finney in Tom Jones (film)
• 1964 Tom Courtney in King and Country
• 1965 Toshiro Mifune in Akahige
• 1966 Jaques Perrin in Un Uomo a Metà
• 1967 Ljubisa Samardzic in Jutro
• 1968 John Marley in Faces (film)
• 1983 Mitchell Litschenstein, Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, David Alan Grier, Guy Boyd & George Dzundza in Streamers
• 1984 Naseeruddin Shak in Paar
• 1985 Gérard Depardieu in Police
• 1986 Carlo delle Piane in Regalo di Natale
• 1987 Hugh Grant & James Wilby in Maurice
• 1988 Don Ameche & Joe Mantegna in Things Change
• 1989 Marcello Mastroianni & Massimo Troisi in Che Ora È?
• 1990 Oleg Borisov in Edinstvenijat Suidetel
• 1991 River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho
• 1992 Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross
• 1993 Fabrizio Bentivoglio in Un' Anima Divisa in Due
• 1994 Xia Yu in Yangguang Canlan De Rizi
• 1995 Götz George in Der Totmacher
• 1996 Liam Neeson in Michael Collins
• 1997 Wesley Snipes in One Night Stand
• 1998 Sean Penn in Hurlybuly
• 1999 Jim Broadbent in Topsy-Turvy
• 2000 Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls
• 2001 Luigo lo Cascio in Luce Dei Miei Occhi
• 2002 Stefano Accorsi in Un Viaggio Chiamato Amore
• 2003 Sean Penn in 21 Grams
• 2004 Javier Bardem in Mar Adentro
• 2005 David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck

Best actress awards

• 1932 Helen Hayes in The Sin of Madelon Claudet
• 1934 Katharine Hepburn in Little Women

Volpi Cup best actress

• 1935 Paula Wessely in Episode
• 1936 Annabella in Veille D'armes
• 1937 Bette Davis in Kid Galahad & Marked Woman
• 1938 Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette
• 1941 Luise Ullrich in Annelie
• 1942 Kristina Soderbaum in Die Goldene Stadt
• 1947 Anna Magnani in L'onorevole Angelina
• 1948 Jean Simmons in Hamlet
• 1949 Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit
• 1950 Eleanor Parker in Caged
• 1951 Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
• 1953 Lilli Palmer in The Four Poster
• 1956 Maria Schell in Gervaise
• 1957 Dzidra Ritenberga in Malva
• 1958 Sophia Loren in The Black Orchid
• 1959 Madeleine Robinson in À Double Tour
• 1960 Shirley Maclaine in The Apartment
• 1961 Suzanne Flon in Tu ne Tueras Point
• 1962 Emmanuelle Riva in Thérèse Desqueyroux
• 1963 Delphine Seyrig in Muriel
• 1964 Harriet Andersson in Att Alska
• 1965 Annie Girardot in Trois Chambres à Manhattan
• 1966 Natalya Arinbasarova in Pervyj Uchitel
• 1967 Shirley Knight in Dutchman
• 1968 Laura Betti in Teorema
• 1983 Darling Legitimus in Rue Cases Nègres
• 1984 Pascale Ogier in Les Nuits De Pleine Lune
• 1986 Valeria Golino in Storia d'amore
• 1987 Kang Soo-Yeon in Contract Mother
• 1988 Shirley Maclaine in Madame Sousatzka
• 1988 Isabelle Huppert in Une Affaire De Femmes
• 1989 Peggy Ashcroft & Geraldine James in She's Been Away
• 1990 Gloria Münchmeyer in La Luna en el Espejo
• 1991 Tilda Swinton in Edward II
• 1992 Gong Li in Qiu Ju Da Guan Si
• 1993 Juliette Binoche in Blue
• 1994 Maria de Medeiros in Três Irmãos
• 1995 Sandrine Bonnaire & Isabelle Huppert in La Cérémonie
• 1996 Victoire Thivisol in Ponette
• 1997 Robin Tunney in Niagara, Niagara
• 1998 Catherine Deneuve in Place Vendôme
• 1999 Nathalie Baye in Une Liaison Pornographique
• 2000 Rose Byrne in The Goddess of 1967
• 2001 Sandra Ceccarelli in Luce Dei Miei Occhi
• 2002 Julianne Moore in Far from Heaven
• 2003 Katja Riemann in Rosenstrasse
• 2004 Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake
• 2005 Giovanna Mezzogiorno in The Beast in the Heart

Volpi Cup best supporting actor

• 1993 Marcello Mastroianni in Un, Deux, Trois, Soleil
• 1994 Roberto Citran in Il toro
• 1995 Ian Hart in Nothing Personal
• 1996 Chris Penn in The Funeral

Volpi Cup best supporting actress

• 1993 Anna Bonaiuto in Dove siete? Io sono qui
• 1994 Vanessa Redgrave in Little Odessa
• 1995 Isabella Ferrari in Romanzo di un giovane povero

Best Cast awards

Special Award best cast

• 1954 Executive Suite: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon & Shelley Winters

Volpi Cup best cast

• 1993 Short Cuts: Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Lane Cassidy, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Josette Maccario, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Cassie Friel, Dustin Friel, Austin Friel, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry & Huey Lewis

External links

• La Biennale di Venezia - Official Site in English and Italian
• UKHotMovies.com - Venice Film Festival: Past, Present and Future

Venice Film Festival

Filmfestspiele von Venedig | Festival Internacional de Cine de Venecia | Festivalo de Venecio | Mostra de Venise | 베네치아 영화제 | Venecijanski filmski festival | Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica di Venezia | Velencei Nemzetközi Filmfesztivál | Filmfestival Venetië | ヴェネチア国際映画祭 | Festiwal Filmowy w Wenecji | Венецианский кинофестиваль | Beneški filmski festival | Venetsian elokuvajuhlat | 威尼斯电影节