The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the "Big Five" International film festivals worldwide, which include the Big Three European Film Festivals, alongside the Toronto Film Festival in Canada and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. The Festivals are internationally acclaimed for giving creators the artistic freedom to express themselves through film. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival.
Romeo and Juliet is a 1954 film adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name. It is directed and written for the screen by Renato Castellani, and stars Laurence Harvey as Romeo and newcomer Susan Shentall as Juliet, with Flora Robson, Mervyn Johns, Bill Travers, Sebastian Cabot, Enzo Fiermonte and John Gielgud. A British and Italian co-production, it was released in the United Kingdom by General Film Distributors on September 1, 1954.
The Volpi Cup for Best Actress is an award presented by the Venice Film Festival. It is given by the festival jury in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance from the films in the competition slate. It is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the festival. The 1st ceremony was held in 1932, when Helen Hayes received the Volpi Cup for the title role in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)—this was the only time that the award was chosen by public voting. From 1942 to 1945, the festival was suspended because of World War II. The student protests in May 1968 opened a period of institutional changes, with no prizes were awarded from 1969 to 1979.
The 65th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 27 August 2008 by Burn After Reading, and closed on 6 September 2008. International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders, awarded Golden Lion to The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Renato Castellani was an Italian film director and screenwriter.
The 59th annual Venice International Film Festival was held between 29 August to 8 September 2002.
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 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci was the President of the Jury. He was previously the President of the Jury at the 40th edition in 1983. Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, was the opening film of the festival. Italian actress Eva Riccobono hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival.
The 8th Venice International Film Festival was held from 23 August to 15 September 1947. Screenwriter Vinicio Marinucci was appointed as the President of the Jury. Formally, it still was not the Golden Lion to designate the highest honor of the event. The prize was known as the Grand International Prize of Venice, which was awarded to The Strike, directed by Karel Steklý.
The 9th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 19 August to 4 September 1948.
The 16th Venice International Film Festival was held from 25 August to 10 September 1955.
The 39th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 2 September 1982.
The 22nd annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 20 August to 3 September 1961.
The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film Amarcord was shown at the festival. The Venezuelan film From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion award.
The Special Jury Prize is an official award given at the Venice Film Festival to one of the feature films in competition slate since 2013. It is considered the third most prestigious prize at the festival, the runner-up to both the main award Golden Lion and the second place award Grand Jury Prize.
The 73rd annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2016.
The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017.
The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019.
The 77th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 2 to 12 September 2020, albeit in a "more restrained format" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 79th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2022. Noah Baumbach's White Noise was the festival's opening film, and Francesco Carrozzini's The Hanging Sun was the closing film.
