The 64th edition of the Venice Film Festival marks the end of Marco Mueller and Davide Croff's four-yearterms as artistic director and president of the Biennale.

Both mandates expire at the end of the year and their renewal will be under discussion in the coming months.

Their four-year tenures have reinfoced the Lido event as one of thekey dates in theindustry calendar.

They can also claimmuch of the credit for the fact thatthe festival will finally see a new Palazzo del Cinema.

Major agreements to forward that initiative were signed in August and if all goes well the festival will inaugurate a new structure in 2011.

This year's event is a good point to judge both how far the event has come and the challenges ahead.

While no high-profile deals were made involving US acquisitions - distributors still clearly consider Venicean essential step to closing Toronto deals and generating good press.

Untila Palazzo is built, Venice cannot consider a real market structure but Valerio de Paolis of Italian distributor Bim told Screendaily.com they were in advanced negotiations on the Lido for titles they plan to close in Toronto.

And Lucky Red president Andrea Occhipinti says they are negotiating for a title that they discovered in Venice, but that won't be screened in Toronto.

Meanwhile Italian sales agent Adrianna Chiesa told Screendaily.com 'I still think that we have to see each other in the face and be able to transmit the emotions of the film that the director transmits to us and we transmit to our distributors. It is essential to be able to find each other and meet.'

Yet the question of a market in Veniceremains far from resolved and the festival now has to contend with Rome which at leasthas a market structure albeit in embryonic form.

What the competition fromRome might mean in the long term, or indeed wider changes in thefestival calendar, Venice and itsorganisers can claim anotherGolden Year.