66th Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion competitors (2009)

During the First Lebanon War in 1982, a lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town.

Baaria is Sicilian slang for Bagheria where Tornatore was born and this is an autobiographic epic of three generations in the Sicilian village where he was born.

In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.

A chambermaid and an ex-cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a dark turn.

The solitary Daniel and Sonia share an uneasy love/hate relationship. Daniel's life is disrupted by the appearance of a stranger that proceeds to insinuate himself in his life. The man's persistence takes its toll on Daniel and Sonia, leaving Daniel alone with nagging questions of "Why?"

A troubled assassin, who works by orchestrating "accidents", suspects that an accident that happens to his team is not an accident at all.

An unexpected pregnancy and premature birth become a burden that Maria is unprepared for. Lacking control over events for the first time in her life, she retreats into an emotional space where she is alone, until the day arrives when she must learn to live again for her vulnerable child.

Amidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.

A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.

An English professor, one year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960s Los Angeles.

In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.

Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.

In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.

The young man fell from the sky. Communication relay burns. Flee from the city and its commotion, return to nature. Become part of another story. That of the legend of the prince. In the hope of a love, hiding behind the hollow in a tree. Nothing magic is improbable. What happened yesterday, may happen again tomorrow.

Three days in a man's life, three crucial days in his long existence. Day one. Autumn 1948, Port Said. It is Hassan's first day at work but a telegram arrives and he has to set sail across the Atlantic. On the ship he meets the beautiful Nura: It is love at first sight for them both and it will be consummated that very day, also because of the arrival of the man Nura has already promised to marry. Day two. Autumn 1973. Alexandria of Egypt. Hassan is in the city to meet Nadia, Nura's daughter, at the deathbed of her twin brother. From what the children say, Hassan is led to believe he is Nadia's father. Day three. Autumn 2001, Cairo. Hassan is in the city to meet Alì, Nadia's son. They begin seeing one another and Hassan observes numerous similarities with the boy...

Two elderly women bear the consequences of a crime involving their respective grandsons. One is the victim, the other is the suspect. Both weak and poor, they laboriously solicit money in the midst of a storm, one for the victim's burial, the other for the suspect's bail bond.

An examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.

Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.

Italian Revolution, 1968. Police officer Nicolas, wants to become an actor. He goes out in plain clothes and meets Laura who is among the students who are against the government and the Vietnam War and who seek sexual freedom. One day, his identity gets exposed and she leaves him.

Vittorio stops and helps Kate when her car breaks down on a mountain road. Later they meet again, and Vittorio discovers that Kate is part of a circus that she has just returned to after having been away for many years due to a tragedy that took place there and affected her profoundly.

On an island off the coast of North America, local residents simultaneously fight a zombie epidemic while hoping for a cure to return their un-dead relatives back to their human state.

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.

Losing his son Tom in a hit and run triggers violent emotions in Anthony, whose body begins to transform. When the driver who killed Tom reappears, Anthony mutates into a mass of metal - a human weapon fuelled by an uncontrollable rage.

Two sisters whose family moves to Taiwan after their father fights in the civil war against the communists in mainland China, find their lives turned upside-down after their parents are thrown into jail and accused of being spies.

Inspired by a true crime, a man begins to experience mystifying events that lead him to slay his mother with a sword.