MUMBAI: The 2009 edition of the Venice Film Festival will run at Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September. The opening ceremony, hosted by Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, will be followed by the world premiere of Giuseppe Tornatore‘s Baar?a, 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 filmmakers 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 on 1 September in the Campo San Polo Arena, with the screening of the Mario Monicelli‘s film La Grande Guerra (The Great War, 1959).
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.
