The 63rd annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, from 30 August to 9 September 2006.
Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia was the opening film of the festival, and Pavel Lungin's The Island was the closing film. Italian actress Isabella Ferrari was the host of both ceremonies.
During the festival, retrospectives were held on the one hundredth anniversary of the births of three major Italian directors: Roberto Rossellini, Mario Soldati and Luchino Visconti. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was presented to American director David Lynch. All the films running the contest were shown for the first time as world premiere in the festival history since the Second World War.
Jia Zhangke's Still Life won the Golden Lion, the festival top prize, following main competition prizes to Alain Resnais, Emanuele Crialese, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Isild Le Besco, Emmanuel Lubezki, Peter Morgan, and a Special Lion to french filmmakers duo Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet for their innovation in cinematographic languages.
Juries
The international juries of the 63rd Venice International Film Festival were composed as follows:
Main Competition (Venezia 63) Catherine Deneuve, French actress — Jury President Michele Placido, Italian actor and director Juan Josè Bigas Luna, Spanish director and writer Paulo Branco, Portuguese producer Cameron Crowe, American filmmaker and producer Chulpan Khamatova, Russian actress Park Chan-wook, South Korean filmmaker
Horizons (Orizzonti) Philip Gröning, German fillmaker — Jury President Carlo Carlei, Italian director Giuseppe Genna, Italian writer Keiko Kusakabe, Japanese producer and distributor Yousry Nasrallah, Egyptian director
Opera Prima ("Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film) Paula Wagner, American producer — Jury President Stefania Rocca, Italian actress Guillermo del Toro, Mexican filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian filmmaker and producer Andrei Plakhov, Russian critic
Short Film Competition (Corto Cortissimo) Teboho Mahlatsi, South African director and producer — Jury President Francesca Calvelli, Italian editor Aleksey Fedorchenko, Russian director