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
65th Venice International Film Festival Mostra, only 21 will be competing for the Golden Lion top prize. Most of the films at Venice will be world premieres, including the "things that go boom" psychological thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker". The film deals with the physical and emotional strains faced by EOD bomb squads in Iraq. Also premiering at the festival is home-grown favorite "Birdwatcher" directed by Italy's own Marco Bechis. Other strong contenders for the coveted Golden Lion award are the Darren Aronofsky directed film, "The Wrestler", and director Barbet Schroeder's entry, "L'Inju: la Bete dans l'Ombre". With no British pictures and