Latinos won big at the Venice Film Festival, taking home both the Golden Lion and the Silver Lion.

The Venezuelan film "From Afar" by director Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion. The film is Vigas' directorial debut, and it tells the story of a middle-aged gay man who cruises the streets of Caracas in search of a young companion.

The jury, which was presided by Alfonso Cuaron, also named Pablo Trapero's "El Clan" the winner of the Silver Lion. The film tells the story of the notorious Puccio family, which kidnapped their rich neighbors in order to extort ransoms from their relatives.

The prizes at Venice are the culmination of a great year for Latin American cinema, as Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Guatemala also won prizes at Cannes and Berlin. It also shows the strength and the growth of Latin American cinema around the world.

Other winners at the festival included Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's stop-motion film "Anomalisa." The movie, which is about a man struggling with his inability to connect with other people, won the Jury Grand Prize.

Meanwhile the Best Actor award went to Fabrice Luchini for his work on "Courted." The Best Actress award went to Valeria Golino for her work in "Per amor Vostro."

"Courted" also won the Best Screenplay award, while first-time director Brady Corbet won both the Best Director award in the Horizon's section and the Lion of the Future, which honors best first works, for his film "Childhood of a Leader."

The Netflix drama "Beasts of No Nation" was also winner. The young actor Abraham Attah won the Marcello Mastroianni award for Young Performer.

The Venice Film Festival showcased 21 films in competition and ran for the past 10 days.

The complete list of winners is as follows:

GOLDEN LION

"From Afar" Lorenzo Vigas

SILVER LION

"The Clan" (Pablo Trapero)

JURY GRAND PRIZE

"Anomalisa," Charlie Kaufman Duke Johnson

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

"Frenzy" Emin Alper

ACTOR

Fabrice Luchini ("Courted")

ACTRESS

Valeria Golino ("Per amor vostro")

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI PRIZE FOR YOUNG PERFORMER -

Abraham Attah ("Beasts of No Nation)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Christian Vincent ("Courted")

LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS LION OF THE FUTURE

"The Childhood of a Leader," Brady Corbett (U.S.)

HORIZONS JURY

BEST FILM

"Free in Deed" (Jake Mahaffi)

BEST DIRECTOR

Brady Corbet "Childhood of a Leader"

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

" Neon Bull" (Gabriel Mascaro)

SPECIAL PRIZE FOR BEST ACTOR OR ACTRESS

Dominique Leborne ("Tempete") by Samuel Collardey

BEST SHORT

"Belladonna," Dubravna Turic

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