BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- In the canal city of Venice, the closing day of the world’s oldest film festival has seen some dramatic moments. The documentary "Sacro GRA" by Gianfranco Rosi has won the prestigious Golden Lion award for best film, the first documentary ever to do so. Let’s head to the Italian city to see more of the big night.

A night of unexpected winners...

Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s study of the denizens of a famous highway circling Rome, "Sacro GRA," took home the Golden Lion Award, the Venice Film Festival’s highest honor. The film is the first documentary to ever win Venice’s top prize and the first Italian winner since 1998.

"I don’t want to feel this responsibility. I have been told tonight, I didn’t know that it has been 15 years before an Italian won in Venice this award. The last one was won by (Gianni) Amelio and the previous one by Bertolucci so for me it’s an incredible honour. And tonight I saw the maestro and he was extremely moved when he gave me the award and this makes this even more important," Gianfranco Rosi said.

Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang was given the newly-created jury prize for "Stray Dogs." The film by the former Golden Lion-winner tells the story about the difficulties of a man and his two children on the edge of society.

Greek director Alexandros Avranas was given the Silver Lion award for Best Director for his work on Miss Violence, and the lead actor Themis Panou took home the award for best actor. Two major awards for one film, something rare at the world’s oldest film festival.

"It’s incredible, it’s incredible. I worked in theatre 30 years and this is the first film in my career, the first role. So it’s something like a myth, I don’t know," Themis Panou said.

Meanwhile, 82-year-old Elena Cotta, who played a stubborn woman in a traffic feud in Via Castellana Bandiera, won the Best Actress honor, beating favorites like Judi Dench.

Now in its 70th year, the Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. The jury, judging the 20 films in this year’s competition, consists of nine key film figures from various countries, including Chinese actor and director Jiang Wen, and was chaired by Oscar-winner Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci.

(Source: cntv.cn)