The 20th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 23 August to 6 September 1959.
Italian film critic Luigi Chiarini was the Jury President for the main competition. The Golden Lion was awarded to The Great War directed by Mario Monicelli and General della Rovere directed by Roberto Rossellini.
Jury Luigi Chiarini, Italian film theorist and filmmaker - Jury President Georges Altman, French journalist Sergei Bondarchuk, Soviet filmmaker and actor Ralph Forte, American journalist Ernst Kruger, German film producer Roger Maxwell, British actor Vinicio Marinucci, Italian film critic and filmmaker Luis Gómez Mesa, Spanish film historian and critic Dario Zanelli, Italian film critic
Official Sections The following films were selected to be screened: Main Competition English title Original title Director(s) Production country Anatomy of a Murder Otto Preminger United States Conflagration 炎上 Kon Ichikawa Japan The Boy and the Bridge Kevin McClory United Kingdom Double Agents La nuit des espions Robert Hossein France Esterina Carlo Lizzani Italy General Della Rovere Il generale Della Rovere Roberto Rossellini Italy The Great War La grande guerra Mario Monicelli Life in Your Hands В твоих руках жизнь Nikolai Rozantsev Soviet Union The Magician Ansiktet Ingmar Bergman Sweden Night Train Pociąg Jerzy Kawalerowicz Poland Sleepless Years Álmatlan évek Félix Máriássy Hungary Sonatas Juan Antonio Bardem Spain Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben Frank Wisbar West Germany The Doctor's Horrible Experiment Le Testament du docteur Cordelier Jean Renoir France Web of Passion À double tour Claude Chabrol France
Out of Competition English title Original title Director(s) Production country Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder United States
Informativa English title Original title Director(s) Production country The 400 Blows Les Quatre Cents Coups François Truffaut France Araya Margot Benacerraf Venezuela Ashes and Diamonds Popiól I Diament Andrzej Wajda Poland Bari Theke Paliye Ritwik Ghatak India Black Orpheus Orfeu Negro Marcel Camus France, Brazil, Italy Campo arado Leo Fleider Argentina Come Back, Africa Lionel Rogosin United States The Crossroads La encrucijada Alfonso Balcázar Spain, France The Day Shall Dawn Jago Hua Savera A.J. Kardar Pakistan The Day the War Ended Первый день мира Yakov Segel Soviet Union Los desarraigados Gilberto Gazcón MexicoThe Diary of Anne Frank George Stevens United States Five in a Million Pet z milionu Zbynek Brynych Czechoslovakia For Whom the Larks Sing Akiket a pacsirta elkísér László Ranódy Hungary Four Kilometers Per Hour Cetiri kilometra na sat Velimir Stojanović Yugoslavia En la ardiente oscuridad Daniel Tinayre Argentina Fanfare Bert Haanstra Netherlands A Hero of Our Times Un eroe dei nostri tempi Mario Monicelli Italy Hiroshima mon amour Alain Resnais France, Japan I Am Free Ana hurra Salah Abouseif Egypt Jazz on a Summer's Day Aram Avakian, Bert Stern United States Kiku to Isamu Tadashi Imai Japan A Midsummer Night's Dream Sen noci svatojanske Jirí Trnka CzechoslovakiaThe Naked General 裸の大将 Hiromichi Horikawa Japan Nazarín Luis Buñuel México North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock United States Osma vrata Nikola Tanhofer Yugoslavia Paradise and Fire Oven Paradies und Feuerofen Herbert Viktor West Germany People in the Net Menschen im Netz Franz Peter Wirth West Germany The Savage Eye Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick United States Shinel Шинель Aleksey Batalov Soviet Union Small Dramas Male dramaty Janusz Nasfeter Poland Stars Sterne Konrad Wolf West Germany Stories About Lenin Рассказы о Ленине Sergei Yutkevich Soviet Union Thirst for Love Sed de amor Alfonso Corona Blake Mexico Tiga Dara Usmar Ismail Indonesia Tiger Bay J. Lee Thompson United Kingdom Time Stood Still Il tempo si è fermato Ermanno Olmi Italy Train Without a Timetable Vlak bez voznog reda Veljko Bulajic Yugoslavia Tu es Pierre Philippe Agostini France
Official Awards Golden Lion: The Great War by Mario Monicelli General della Rovere by Roberto Rossellini Special Jury Prize: The Magician by Ingmar Bergman Volpi Cup for Best Actor: James Stewart for Anatomy of a Murder Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Madeleine Robinson for Web of Passion Volpi Cup Special Mention: Carla Gravina for Esterina Lucyna Winnicka for Night Train Hannes Messemer for General della Rovere Alberto Sordi for The Great War
Independent Awards
New Cinema Award The Magician by Ingmar Bergman
FIPRESCI Prize Ashes and Diamonds by Andrzej Wajda
OCIC Award General della Rovere by Roberto Rossellini
Pasinetti Award The Magician by Ingmar Bergman Parallel Sections: Come Back, Africa by Lionel Rogosin
References
External links
Venice Film Festival 1959 Awards on IMDb