"A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" has netted the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

The Swedish film, directed by Roy Andersson, opened to rave reviews at the event and was hailed as one of the favorites to win the top award. Andersson is one of the most respected Swedish Filmmakers in the world, having previously won awards at Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals, and this marks the first time Andersson was competing at Venice.

"A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" will next play at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens in Norway in October and in Sweden in November.

The Silver Lion award for Best Director went to Andrey Konchalovskiy for his work on "The Postman's White Nights." The feature was the closing night film of the festival and audiences hailed it as the front-runner to win the festival. The Russian picture is the second Russian film to win big at one of the premiere film festivals. This past summer, "Leviathan" went home with the Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Grand Jury Award went to Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary about Indonesian genocide, "The Look of Silence." The Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Norway and U.K co-production played at Telluride over the Labor Day Weekend where critics were ecstatic. Drafthouse acquired the documentary over the last week and is planning on distributing the movie in the summer. It should easily be a key Oscar contender for next year.

American actor Adam Driver surprised at the festival as he won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor for his work on "Hungry Hearts." Driver beat out competition that included Michael Keaton for "Birdman" and Al Pacino for "Manglehorn." Driver is having one of the best years of his career, especially after landing a lead role in the next "Star Wars" film and starring in Oscar contender "Tracks" and the festival hits "What If" and "This Is Where I Leave You."

Meanwhile, the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress went to Driver's co-star Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher for "Hungry Hearts." Renowned for her work in Italian films "I Am Love" and "Come Undone," Rohrwacher had previously won awards at the Venice Film Festival for her work in "Via Castellana Bandiera" and "La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi."

The New York set movie has yet to obtain a distributor but with Driver's stardom rising, this film will easily acquire U.S. distribution at the Toronto market. "Hungry Hearts" will next play at Toronto and London Film Festivals.

The Marcello Mastroianni award for Best Young Actor or Actress to went to Romain Paul for work in "Le Dernier Coup de Marteau." The young actor's work in the movie is his first feature film.

The Iranian film "Ghesse-ha" went home with the Best Screenplay award by Rakhshan Banietemad and Farid Mostafavi. The film is slated to play at the Vancouver International Film Festival and London Film Festivals and stars Peyman Moaadi, who is best known for his work on the Oscar-winning film "A Separation."

Meanwhile, the Special Jury Award went to "Sivas" from first time director Kaan Mujdeci. The film from Turkey opened to mixed reception and was not expected to win anything.

In the Orizzonti sidebar, "Maryam" from Indonesia won the Best Short Film Award while "Court" from India won the Best Film Award.

Other winners from the sidebar included "Belluscone: Una Storia Siciliana," which won the Special Orizzonti Jury Award, while Naji Nowar won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director for his work on "Teeb."

Emir Hadžihafizbegović won the Special Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress Award.

Among the films that were expected to take home major awards included "Birdman" from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Manglehorn" from David Gordon Green and 99 Homes" which stars Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon.

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest festival in the world and has seen "Sacro GRA," "Pieta," "Faust" "Somewhere," and "Lebanon with the Golden Lion."


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