Fassbender wins best actor award at Venice film festival

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Besides naming the Russian film ‘Faust’ as the winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, the jury headed by director Darren Aronofsky (‘Black Swan’) handed out numerous other prizes. The Coppa Volpi for best actor went to Michael Fassbender, who plays a man obsessed with impersonal gratification in the film ‘Shame’ by Steve McQueen of Britain.

Asia put in a strong showing. The Coppa Volpi for best actress was awarded to Deanie Yip in the film ‘Tao Jie’ (‘A Simple Life’) by Hong Kong’s Ann Hui. China’s Cai Shangjun won the Silver Lion for best director for his film ‘Ren Shan Ren Hai’ (People Mountain People Sea), which was a surprise late addition to the festival lineup. And the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best new young actor or actress went to Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido in the film ‘Himizu’ by Japan’s Sion Sono.

A special jury prize was give to ‘Terraferma’ by Emanuele Crialese of Italy, while the Osella for the best cinematography went to Robbie Ryan for the film ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Andrea Arnold and the Osella for best screenplay went to Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for the film ‘Alpis’ (Alps).

The handful of American films in competition, including George Clooney’s ‘The Ides of March,’ ‘Dark Horse,’ ‘Texas Killing Fields’ and ‘Killer Joe’ were shut out.

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-- Julie Makinen