The world's oldest film festival, running since 1932 and held annually in late August to early September on the Lido. Part of the Venice Biennale, it is second in prestige only to Cannes. The main venue is the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido waterfront, a short vaporetto ride from central Venice.
Many screenings are open to the public -- you can buy tickets for individual films, and the atmosphere around the Lido during the festival is electric even without a pass. The programme mixes big-budget premieres with adventurous international cinema. The top prize, the Golden Lion, has gone to films by Kurosawa, Ozu, Renoir, and more recently Zhao and Poitras.