Michael Fassbender celebrates his Best Actor win
The Venice Film Festival closed its 68th edition on Saturday, sending many of the early favorites home without a prize. The Venice Film Festival Jury chose Russian director Alexander Sokurov's film based on the German legend of Faust for the prestigious Golden Lion.
American director Darren Aronofsky, who led the festival jury, had high praise for Faust and justified awarding the film the top prize, saying: "There are some awards that make you cry, there are some films that make you laugh, there are some films that change you forever after you see them, and this is one of them".
Michael Fassbender won the Best Actor award for his commanding performance in Shame, the story of a sex-addict living in New York.
Best Actress went to Hong Kong actress Deanie Ip for her role as an ageing housekeeper in A Simple Life.
The Italian film Terraferma, directed by Emanuele Crialese, was awarded the Special Jury Prize. The film tells the story of an influx of immigrants to a small Italian island and was praised for tackling the issue of illegal immigration.
A full list of Venice Film Festival 2011 Winners:
BEST FILM GOLDEN LION
- Faust by Alexander Sokurov (Russia)
BEST DIRECTOR SILVER LION
- Shangjun Cai for People Mountain People Sea (China)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
- Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese (Italy)
BEST FIRST FEATURE
- La-Bas by Guido Lombardi (Italy)
BEST ACTRESS
- Deanie Ip for A Simple Life (Hong Kong)
BEST ACTOR
- Michael Fassbender for Shame (Britain)
EMERGING PERFORMER
- Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaidou for Himizu (Japan)
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Alpis (Alps) by Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
-Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold (Britain)
