66th Venice International Film Festival 66th Venice International Film Festival 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 international competition jury, chaired by Ang Lee, awarded the Golden Lion to "Lebanon" by Samuel Maoz. The international juries of the 66th Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows: Main competition (Venezia 66) Horizons (Orizzonti) Opera Prima ("Luigi de
Venice Film Festival Land" (2016) and "The Shape of Water" (2017). In 2017 a new section for virtual-reality (VR) films was introduced. In 2018 "Roma" by Alfonso Cuarón won the Golden Lion and became the first ever movie produced by Netflix to be awarded in a major film festival. The President of the Venice Biennale represents the festival in front of its financial partner, the public authorities and the media. He is chosen by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The current President is Paolo Baratta, appointed in 2008, who has previously held the position between 1998 and 2002. The Director is responsible