The Golden Lion is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a second Golden Lion was introduced; this is an honorary award for people who have made an important contribution to cinema.
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.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival, formerly the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2015.
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 67th annual Venice International Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from 1 to 11 September 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was the head of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, and the closing film was Julie Taymor's The Tempest. John Woo was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prior to the start of the Festival.
The 68th annual Venice International Film Festival was held in Venice, Italy between 31 August and 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was presented with the Glory to the Film-maker award on 4 September, prior to the premiere of his upcoming film Wilde Salomé. Marco Bellocchio was awarded with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in September. The festival opened with the American film The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney, and closed with Damsels in Distress by Whit Stillman.
The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, organized by Venice Biennale, took place at Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2012. The festival opened with the Indian director Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and closed with the Out of Competition film The Man Who Laughs, directed by Jean-Pierre Ameris. Terrence Malick's film To the Wonder was met with both boos and cheers from critics at its premiere.
The 71st annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy between 27 August to 6 September 2014. The festival opened with Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film Birdman, and closed with Ann Hui's drama film The Golden Era. Italian actress Luisa Ranieri hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival. The Swedish film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, directed by Roy Andersson, won the Golden Lion, and Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence won the Grand Jury Prize.
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 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.
Vivo Film, established in Rome at the beginning of 2004 by Gregorio Paonessa and Marta Donzelli, is an Italian independent production company for art-house films.
The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019.
The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American filmmaker Spike Lee was invited to be the president of the jury for the main competition for the festival, after the COVID-19 pandemic in France scuttled plans to have him head the jury of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. French actress Doria Tillier hosted the opening and coolsing ceremonies.
The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021.
Love Life is a 2022 Japanese–French drama film written and directed by Koji Fukada. Set in contemporary Japan, the film is inspired by a song of the same name by musician Akiko Yano, originally released on the album of the same name in 1991. In 2000, the singer Hitomi had released an eponym album on AvexTrax records. It revolves around Taeko and her husband Jiro facing "love" and "life".
Without Her is a 2022 Iranian drama mystery thriller film directed and written by Arian Vazirdaftari and produced by Houman Seyyedi and Saeed Sadi. The film screened for the first time at the 40th Fajr Film Festival where it won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress for Tannaz Tabatabaei and earned 2 other nominations, one of which was for Shadi Karamroudi as the best actress in the supporting role and the other one for the director Arian Vazirdaftari as the Best Debut Film prize nominee.
World War III is a 2022 Iranian thriller drama film co-written, directed, produced and edited by Houman Seyyedi. The film stars Mohsen Tanabandeh, Mahsa Hejazi, Neda Jebraeili and Navid Nosrati. It was selected as the Iran entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.
The 80th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2023, at Venice Lido in Italy.
The 81st annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2024, at Venice Lido in Italy. Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened the festival on 28 August 2024, while Pupi Avati's The American Backyard closed on 7 September 2024.
