The Venice Cinema Art Festival will take place with its 64th edition from August 29th to September 8th, this year, celebrating its 75th year from its creation, a good achievement, given that this is the most ancient Cinema Festival of the world.

The prize awarded is the Golden Lion (the lion is the symbol of the ancient Venice Republic, today visible in S. Marco Basilica).

Its first edition, in fact, took place in 1932 and, since then, it takes place in the historical Cinema Palace, along Lungomare Marconi, Venice-Lido.
The festival (it takes place every year) is part of the wider cultural festival of the Biennale di Venezia (Venice Arts Festival), with an exposition of contemporary art.
It's one of the most important cinema festivals of the world.

During its first edition, started on August 6th 1932, was "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", by Ruben Mamoulian.
The first edition was not competitive and only from the 2nd a prize started to be given.

Then, the festival grew much in importance and, in 1937, it was celebrated in the new Palazzo del Cinema (Cinema Palace), built in record times by the architect Luigi Quaranta, following the new Modernistic style.
Since then, the Festival has always taken place here, except from 1940-48.

But in 1938, the Festival started to be damaged and conditioned by the political pressure of the Fascist regime, so that the winners were, by superior orders, a German film and an Italian one.
After the beginning of the war, the editions of 1940-42 took place far from Venice and are today officially considered not happened.

In 1946, th Festival started again at its best, but not at the Cinema Palace, then requisitioned by the allied forces, but at the S. Marco Cinema.

During these years, the festival was deeply featured by the great films of the Italian Neo-Realism, but many were again the great films of the international cinema.

In 1947, the festival took place in the Palazzo Ducale, in a wonderful environment and it reached a record public of 90,000 presences.
It's considered one of the best editions of the festival and also the International Jury was formed again.
In 1948, the Festival was again at the Cinema Palace, at Lido.

The 1950's were the years of the great international prestige and also the Japanese and Indian cinemas are awarded.

These were the most brilliant years for the Italian cinema, that, instead was not much awarded by the Venice Festival, upsetting ferocious polemics and the Golden

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