The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (Italian: Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, “International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale”), founded in 1932, is the oldest international film festival in the world.[1][2] The film festival is part of the Venice Biennale which was founded by the Venetian City Council in 1895. The Biennale consists (now) of a range of separate events including (the International Art Exhibition (Venice); the International Festival of Contemporary Music (Venice); the International Theatre Festival (Venice), the International Architecture Exhibition (Venice), the International Festival of Contemporary Dance (Venice), and the International Kids’ Carnival (Venice) of which the Venice Film festival is probably the best known event.
Awards
The Film Festival’s current awards are:
Official selection – In competition
Golden Lion (Leone d’Oro)
The 65th Venice International Film Festival
Awarded to the best film screened in competition at the festival
- See a list of winners at Golden Lion
Silver Lion Leone d’Argento
The Silver Lion is awarded to the best director in the competitive section Venezia (plus the number of the edition).
- See list of winners at Silver Lion
Grand Jury Prize[edit]
Volpi Cup (Coppa Volpi)[edit]
The Volpi Cups are awarded to:
- ‘Best actor’
- ‘Best actress’
Formal awards for best actor and best actress have been given since 1934. In the mid-1990s awards were also given to supporting actors and actresses.
- For a list of winners, see Volpi Cup.
Marcello Mastroianni Award
The “Marcello Mastroianni Award” was instituted in 1998 in honor of the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni who passed away in 1996. The award was created to acknowledge an emerging actor or actress, and can be compared to the “Volpi Cup”, the award for Best Actor and Best Actress. [3]
‘Special Lion’
The Jury may also choose to award a ‘Special Lion’ for an overall work to a director or actor of a film presented in the main competition section.
Orizzonti section (Horizons)
is open to all “custom-format” works, with a wider view towards new trends in the expressive languages that converge in film. The awards of the Orizzonti section are:
- The Orizzonti Prize
- The Special Orizzonti Jury Prize (for feature-length films)
- The Orizzonti Short Film Prize
- The Orizzonti Medium-length Film Prize
Controcampo Italiano section
presents a panorama on Italian cinema with 7 narrative feature-length films, 7 short films, and 7 documentaries, all world premiere screenings and all in competition in their respective categories. The awards of this section are:
- Controcampo Award (for narrative feature-length films)
- Controcampo Award (for short films)
- Controcampo Doc Award (for documentaries)
Best Screenplay Award
for best screenplay.
Lion of the Future
Award for a debut film.
Special Jury Prize
A Special Jury Prize is awarded to one or two films in most years.
Golden Osella
There are two Golden Osella Prizes: for Best Technical Contribution (to cinematographers, composers, etc.) and for Best Screenplay.