US director Jim Jarmusch takes Venice's top prize

US independent director Jim Jarmusch clinched the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Saturday.

"Thank you for appreciating our quiet film," said the 72-year-old while accepting the award.

Jarmusch's "Father Mother Sister Brother" starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, and Tom Waits is a comedy-drama anthology film that explores the complex relationships between adult children and their distant parents.


"Father Mother Sister Brother" is the first Jarmusch film to compete at the Venice Film Festival.

Several past recipients of the esteemed Golden Lion award, including "Nomadland" and "Joker," have gone on to achieve Oscar success.

'The Voice of Hind Rajab' wins second prize
In a decision that may disappoint those opposing the war in Gaza, the most talked-about movie on the Venice Lido did not win the Golden Lion.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab," directed by Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, received a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday.

Instead, the film, which tells the story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces last year, won the festival's second-highest honor, the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.

"This story isn't just about Hind," Ben Hania said during her acceptance speech. "The voice of Hind is the voice of Gaza itself. Her voice will continue to echo until accountability is real, until justice is served."

After editing was complete, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Oscar-winning filmmakers Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest"), and Alfonso Cuaron ("Roma") joined the film as executive producers.

Who won the best actress and best actor awards at the Venice Film Festival?
Led by US director Alexander Payne, the jury named China's Xin Zhilei best actress for her role in "The Sun Rises on Us All," directed by compatriot Cai Shangjun.

The 39-year-old actress portrays a woman in the film that explores themes of resentment and forgiveness.

Italy's Toni Servillo won the best actor award for playing a president nearing the end of an illustrious career in Paolo Sorrentino's "La Grazia."

A Venice regular, Servillo was among several award recipients who used their time on stage to address the situation in Gaza, voicing his "admiration" for the activists on a flotilla of boats.

They "have decided to set sail with courage to reach Palestine and to bring a sign of humanity to a land where human dignity is daily and cruelly demeaned", Servillo said.