Aleksander Sokurov's 'Faust' wins Golden Lion in Venice

Many critics and pundits had feared rather than predicted that Aleksander Sokurov's take on Goethe's Faust could walk home with this year's top trophy at the Venice Film Festival and, to the dismay of many, it did. The jury, chaired by Darren Aronofsky, chose Faust over much better received films like Steve McQueen's Shame, Yorgos Lanthimos's Alps, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights or Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, all part of a competition strand that Aranofsky himself called "exhilarating and maddening".

Shame, the film tipped by many as the favourite for the Golden Lion victory, scored a Volpi Cup win for leading actor Michael Fassbender, who reaps what could be the first of a long list of awards in a year in which he has starring roles in other films like Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class or A Dangerous Method. In a festival conspicuously weak on female roles, the Volpi Cup for Best Actress unsurprisingly went to Chinese veteran performer Deanie Yip.

Yorgos Lanthimos was awarded the Osella Award for his screenplay for Alps, while Robbie Ryan took home the Cinematography prize for his camera work in Wuthering Heights.

Complete list of winners after the Faust clip:

GOLDEN LION for Best Film:
FAUST by Aleksander SOKUROV (Russia)

SILVER LION for Best Director to:
Shangjun CAI for the film REN SHAN REN HAI (PEOPLE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE SEA) (China/Hong Kong) 

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to
TERRAFERMA by Emanuele CRIALESE (Italy)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actor to:
Michael FASSBENDER
in the film SHAME by Steve MCQUEEN (Great Britain)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actress to:
Deanie YIP
in the film TAO JIE (A SIMPLE LIFE) by Ann HUI (China - Hong Kong)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD
for Best Young Actor or Actress to:
Shôta SOMETANI and Fumi NIKAIDÔ
in the film HIMIZU by Sion SONO (Japan)

OSELLA
for Best Cinematography to:
Robbie RYAN
for the film WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Andrea ARNOLD (Great Britain)

OSELLA
for Best Screenplay to:
Yorgos LANTHIMOS and Efthimis FILIPPOU
for the film ALPIS (ALPS) by Yorgos LANTHIMOS (Greece)

LION OF THE FUTURE – “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM
Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film Jury at the 68th Venice Film Festival, comprised of Carlo Mazzacurati (President),Aleksei Fedorchenko, Fred Roos, Charles Tesson, Serra Yilmaz has unanimously decided to award:

LÀ-BAS by Guido LOMBARDI (Italy)
VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS’ WEEK
as well as a prize of 100,000 USD, donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis to be divided equally between director and producer