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The Wrestler has just been awarded the Golden Lion at the 65th Venice Film Festival. Darren Aronofsky’s film won rave reviews at the festival and will be now screened at the Toronto Film Festival. A lot of praise of lavished over the spirited performance of the lead actor Mickey Rourke. Other winners included Aleksey German Jr., who won the Silver Lion for Best Director for his work on Bumaznyj Soldat, Silvio Orlando for Best Actor for Il papa di Giovanna, and Dominique Blanc for Best Actress in L’autre.

Here is the list of the winners at the concluded festival. Official Venezia 65 Awards The Venezia 65 Jury, chaired by Wim Wenders and comprised of Juriy Arabov, Valeria Golino, Douglas Gordon, Lucrecia Martel, John Landis, and Johnnie To, having viewed all twenty-one films in competition, has decided as follows: GOLDEN LION for Best Film: The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky (USA) SILVER LION for Best Director to: Aleksey German Jr. for Bumaznyj Soldat (Paper Soldier) (Russia) SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to: Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia, Germany, France) COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor: Silvio Orlando for Il papa di Giovanna by Pupi Avati (Italy) COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress: Dominique Blanc for L’autre by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic (France) MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress: Jennifer Lawrence for The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arriaga (USA) OSELLA for Best Cinematography to: Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov for Buma•nyj Soldat (Paper Soldier) by Aleksey German Jr. (Russia) OSELLA for Best Screenplay to: Haile Gerima for Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia, Germany, France) SPECIAL LION for Overall Work to: Werner Schroeter The Jury decided to award a Special Lion for his uncompromising and relentlessly innovative work over a period of 40 years to Werner Schroeter. “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM to: Pranzo Di Ferragosto by Gianni Di Gregorio (SIC - International Critics’ Week, Italy) Aurelio De Laurentiis and Filmauro award a cash prize, of 100,000 USD, to the winning first film (50,000 to the director, 50,000 to the producer). To the director, an additional film voucher for 40,000 Euro will also be awarded, offered by Kodak.

Here are some of the pictures of the winners