Italian documentary 'Holy GRA' wins Venice Golden Lion

Italian director Gianfranco Rosi poses with the Golden Lion for Best Film he received for his movie "Sacro Gra" during the award ceremony of the 70th Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido. (AFP/TIZIANA FABI)

VENICE, Veneto: Italian director Gianfranco Rosi's documentary "Holy GRA", which looks into everyday life off a Rome ring road, won the Golden Lion for best movie at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

"I would never, ever have believed a documentary would win Venice film festival," said an emotional Rosi, who won the top prize out of 20 films in competition with his tale, which peered into houses, workplaces and gardens.

The director said he had spent years preparing and researching for the film and thanked "the characters for allowing me into their lives."

"Holy GRA" was one of an unprecedented two documentaries in the running for the Lion, and Rosi said it had been a "huge act of courage" to let them compete.

The film glimpses into the lives of a former aristocrat in a kitsch palace, an ambulance man who rushes to save car crash victims on the ring road and an elderly bushy-bearded father who shares a tiny apartment with his daughter.

With simple, pared-down shots, the film quietly reveals the vast range of personalities living in tower blocks or country houses under airport flight paths.

"I wanted to be surprised and Rosi's film was surprising. It was a unanimous choice," said jury head, Italian cinematic master Bernardo Bertolucci.

"Like a one-man orchestra, Rosi managed to reveal these characters to us within this ring road which circles Rome like a ring around Saturn.

"The world, the spaces in the film, had something Franciscan about them. There was a real sense of purity, the jury felt a poetic force," he said.

The best actor prize went to Greece's Themis Panou for his role as father to a family which harbours a deep secret in Alexandros Avranas's "Miss Violence".

Avranas was awarded the Silver Lion award for best director for the film, which shocked audiences with a chilling tale of incest and child suicide.

The award for best actress was picked up by Elena Cotta for her portrayal of a stubborn old lady in southern Italy who refuses to back down from a staring feud in Emma Dante's "A Street in Palermo."

Best screenplay went to Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Stephen Frears's "Philomena", a charming tragi-comedy starring Judy Dench, based on the true tale of a mother's search for her son after he is given up for adoption.

Coogan, who could not be present, sent a message saying: "Jeff and I are thrilled. It's truly been a labour of love. We are indebted to Judy Dench for giving heart and soul to the story, and Philomena for allowing it to be told."

Best young actor went to Tye Sheridan for his depiction in "Joe" of a young man desperately trying to protect his family from an alcoholic, abusive father.

The grand jury prize went to Tsai Ming-liang's "Stray Dogs", the incredibly slow-moving story of a homeless father who earns a meagre living as a human billboard while his children wander the streets of contemporary Taipei.

Philip Groning's controversial "The Police Officer's Wife", a series of episodes which explore a mother's struggle to protect her child from domestic violence, was awarded the special jury prize.

The festival has brought Hollywood stars including George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Nicolas Cage and Scarlett Johansson by speed boat and gondola to Venice's Lido, as well as art house auteurs from around the globe.

Bertolucci, best known for his raunchy 1972 "Last Tango in Paris", was joined on the jury by British director Andrea Arnold ("Red Road"), German actress Martina Gedeck ("The Lives of Others") and US actress Carrie Fisher.