Sean Penn has taken home the best actor gong from the Venice Film Festival. The 43-year-old won the plaudits of judges at the event for his powerhouse performance as an ailing mathematician in 21 Grams.
The prestigious Golden Lion award went to Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Return, however. The first-time director's powerful drama tells the story of two adolescents whose domineering father returns after a decade-long absence.
Saturday night's prizegiving made for an appropriately glitzy finale to the festival, which was attended by a host of stars. Over the previous seven days, Venice welcomed the likes of Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, George Clooney, Nicolas Cage and Omar Shariff.
But it was the arrival of Woody Allen that caused most excitement in Italy's lagoon city. The 67-year-old filmmaker has a long relationship with Venice, having married and made several movies there. He had never before attended the film festival, however, and this time round he was made guest of honour.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
