'Pieta' takes Golden Lion in Venice

• Tweet

VENICE, Italy, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The Venice Film Festival 's top prize, the Golden Lion, went to "Pieta" Saturday night, with "The Master" garnering the top director and actor awards.

The Hollywood Reporter said its sources said the jury for the 69th annual film festival had to do some rethinking when it came to deciding the top awards. The sources said the jurors had intended to give the top statuary to "The Master," directed by American Paul Thomas-Anderson, but went with South Korean Kim K-duk's work because because of a new rule limiting the number of awards any one movie can receive.

So the jurors went with "Pieta," a story about poverty and violence in South Korea, for the Golden Lion and gave the Silver Lion for best director and best actor awards to "The Master," a drama inspired by the origins of Scientology co-starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, the entertainment trade industry newspaper said. Phoenix and Hoffman shared the actor's award.

The special jury prize went to Austrian director Ulrich Seidl for "Paradies: Glaube" (Pradise: Faith).

The New York Times reported confusion arose during the awards ceremony when the special jury prize and the best director award apparently were presented in the wrong order and to the wrong people. The newspaper said a festival press release confirmed Thomas-Anderson took the director's award and the special jury prize went to Seidl.

The Copa Volpi prize for best actress went to Hadas Yaron in "Lemake et Ha'Chalal" by Israeli director Rama Bursthein.

The Marcello Mastroianni award for best new young actor or actress went to Fabrizio Falco, who appeared in both Marco Bellocchio's "Bella Addormentata" (Dormant Beauty) and "E' Stato il Figlio" (The Son Was Here).