The 66th Venice International Film Festival is organized by the Venice Biennale and will run 2nd to 12th September 2009 at Venice Lido.

The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote all the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The Festival will include retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards raising awareness of the history of cinema.

Marco Müller is the Director of the 66th edition. He has been heading the Venice Biennale's Cinema section since 2004.

The official line-up of the 66th Festival will include the following sections:
Venezia 66 - Out of Competition - Orizzonti - Controcampo Italiano - Corto Cortissimo

The independent and parallel sections will include:
- International Critics’ Week (A series of 7 or 8 films – debut works – independently selected by a commission nominated by the National Syndicate of Italian Film Critics)
- Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days (A series of 10-12 films independently organized by a commission nominated by the Italian Association of Film-makers (ANAC - Associazione Nazionale Autori Cinematografici) and by the Association of Independent Directors and Producers (API - Associazione Autori e Produttori Indipendenti))

The screenings schedule will span over 11 days, from Wednesday 2nd September to Saturday 12th September 2009.

Five international juries (Venezia 66, Orizzonti, Controcampo Italiano, Corto Cortissimo, and “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film) will assign the official awards.

The official line-up of the 66th Venice Film Festival will be announced in a press conference to take place in Rome on Thursday 30th July.