The 66th International Film Festival in September in Venice

The city of Venice is ready to celebrate the important event represented by the famous Venice International Film Festival.

The 2009 edition of the Festival, organized by the Venice Biennale, will run at Venice Lido from 2nd to 12th of September and it is one of the greatest events in the world dedicated to cinema.

As mentioned in the official site, the «aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote all the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms, as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance».

The opening ceremony, hosted by the Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, will be followed by the world premiere screening of Giuseppe Tornatore's "Baarìa", one of the movies in competition.

The official line-up of the 66th Festival includes six different sections - Venezia 66, Out of Competition, Orizzonti, Controcampo italiano, Corto Cortissimo and Questi Fantasmi - and two independent and parallel sections which are "International Critics' Week" - a series of 7 or 8 films, debut works, independently selected by a special commission nominated by the National Syndicate of Italian Film Critics - and "Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days" - a series of 10-12 films independently organized by a commission nominated by the Italian Association of Film-makers and by the Association of Independent Directors and Producers.

Five international juries will assign the official awards to producers coming from every corner of the world, in fact, all countries are represented during the Festival, with international directors who participate in order to show their works to an international audience.

This year a pre-opening night has been organized that will take place in Venice on 1st of September at 9 p.m. in the Campo San Polo Arena, with the screening of the Mario Monicelli's masterpiece "La Grande Guerra" (The Great War, 1959).

For detailed information about the line-up of the Festival, the screening schedule and information about tickets, have a look at the dedicated section on About Venice.