72nd Venice International Film Festival


The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film Amarcord was shown at the festival. The Venezuelan film From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion award.
Everest was selected as the festival's opening night film, while Guan Hu's drama film Mr. Six served as the closing night film. Actress and director Elisa Sednaoui hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival.
The festival poster featured Nastassja Kinski in front as reminiscent of Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas, while in background it featured the character of Antoine Doinel portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud from François Truffaut's 1959 drama film The 400 Blows, which also appeared in 71st Venice International Film Festival poster.
The festival honoured Brian De Palma with Glory to the Filmmaker Award and a documentary film titled De Palma by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow also screened at the festival. Jonathan Demme received the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award, who also served as the President of Horizons section jury.

Juries

The following people formed the 2015 juries:
Main competition
Horizons
Opera Prima

In Competition

The following films were selected for the main competition:

Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:

Horizons

The following feature films were selected for the Horizons section:

Venice Classics

The following selection of restored classic films and documentaries on cinema were screened for this section:

Biennale College - Cinema

The following films were screened for the "Biennale College - Cinema" section, a higher education training workshop for micro-budget feature films:

Final Cut in Venice

The following films were screened for the "Final Cut in Venice" section, a workshop to support the post-production of films from Africa:
English titleOriginal titleDirectorProduction country
Ali, the Goat, and IbrahimAli Mea'za We IbrahimSherif ElbendaryEgypt
House in the FieldsTigmi NigrenTala HadidMorocco
Path of ParadiseTarik Al-JenahAtia Al-DaradjiIraq
Rooster of BeirutDeek BeirutZiad KalthoumSyria
SeparationHavibonHakar AbdulqadirIraq
Zaineb Hates the SnowZaineb Takrahou EtheljKaouther Ben HaniaTunisia

Il Cinema nel Giardino

The following feature films were selected for the Il Cinema nel Giardino section:
TitleScreeningDirectorProduction country
Al centro del cinema6 SepGianandrea Caruso, Chiara Dainese, Davide Minotti, Bernardo Pellegrini, Maria TilliItaly
Carlo Lizzani, Il mio cinema3 SepRoberto Torelli, Cristina Torelli, Paolo LucianiItaly
Il decalogo di Vasco11 SepFabio MasiItaly
Torn 9 SepAlessandro GassmannItaly
Where is the Goldfish? 10 SepElisabetta SgarbiItaly
ZAC - I Fiori del MALE8 SepMassimo DenaroItaly

Autonomous sections

International Critics’ Week

The following films were selected for the 29th Venice International Film Critics' Week:

Venice Days

The following films were selected for the 12th edition of the Venice Days section:

Awards

Official selection

The following Official Awards were presented at the 72nd edition:
In Competition
Horizons
Lion of the Future
Venice Classics Awards
Special Awards
The following official and collateral awards were conferred to films of the autonomous sections:
30th Venice International Critics' Week
Venice Days
The following collateral awards were conferred to films of the official selection: