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
The Golden Era (film) the festival's closing film. Hui's previous full-length directorial feature, "A Simple Life", also premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, where it competed for the Golden Lion. Shortly after its world premiere, "The Golden Era" made its North American premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, placed under the Masters category and distributed by China Lion Film Distribution Inc. The film continued to appear in other festivals, including the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival while making its first public release on October 1, 2014 in China. On October 17, 2014, "The Golden Era" was released in the U.S.