The 63rd Venice International Film Festival, organised by the Venice Biennale, will be held on the Venice Lido from 30th August to 9th September 2006.

The aim of the Festival is to encourage the awareness and the promotion of all the various aspects of international cinema as art, entertainment and industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance.

The official selection includes the following sections: Venezia 63 - In Competition, Venezia 63 - Out of Competition, Orizzonti, and Corto Cortissimo.

Four international juries will assign the official awards of the Mostra: the Venezia 63 jury will award the Golden Lion for best film; the Corto Cortissimo jury will award the Corto Cortissimo Lion for best short film; the Orizzonti jury will award the Orizzonti prize; the "Luigi De Laurentiis" jury will award the Lion of the Future, for which all the debut full-length films presented in the various sections of the Festival are eligible.

The Mostra also includes retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards a better awareness of the history of cinema: one section is dedicated to The Secret History of Russian Cinema, one to Brazilian film-maker Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, and one to The Secret History of Italian Cinema.

The collateral sections of the Mostra include the International Critics' Week, and the Giornate degli autori - Venice Days.