Alexander Sokurov took home the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion, for Faust.
The film, based loosely on Goethe's play, is the final part in Sokurov's tetralogy - Moloch, Taurus and The Sun - concerning power and the corruption of it.
Jury president Darren Aronofsky presented the award, saying: "Some films make you dream, some make you cry, some make you laugh, some change you forever after seeing them …we are from different corners of the planet but we unanimously chose this film."
The Silver Lion for direction went to Shangjun CAI for his revenge drama Ren Shan Ren Hai (People Mountain People Sea).
The UK also featured strongly within the awards, with Michael Fassbender picking up the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor in Steve McQueen's Shame andRobbie Ryan snagging the award for best cinematography for his work on Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.
Meanwhile, the Sicilian-island set Terraferma saw Emanuele Crialese pick up the special jury prize and Deanie Yip was named best actress for her role in Ann Hui's Tao jie (A Simple Life).
The rest of the awards are:
Best New Young Actor or Actress - Shôta Sometani and Fumi Nikaidô in the film Himizu by Sion Sono (Japan)
Osella for Best Screenplay Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for the film Alpis (Alps) by Yorgos Lanthimos (Grecia)
Lion of the Future - “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film Là-bas by Guido Lombardi (Italy) - International Critics' Week and a prize of 100,000 USD, donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis, to be divided equally between the director and the producer
Orizzonti Award (full-length films): Kotoko by Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
Special Orizzonti Jury Prize (full-length films): Whores’ Glory di Michael Glawogger (Austria, Germania)
Orizzonti Award: Accidentes Gloriosos (medium-length films) by Mauro Andrizzi and Marcus Lindeen (Sweden, Denmark, Germany)
Orizzonti Award (short films): In attesa dell'avvento by Felice D'Agostino and Arturo Lavorato (Italia)
Special Mentions: O Le Tulafale (The Orator) by Tusi Tamasese (New Zealand, Samoa) All The Lines Flow Out by Charles LIM Yi Yong (Singapore)
CONTROCAMPO ITALIANO Controcampo Award (for narrative feature-length films) Scialla! by Francesco Bruni
Controcampo Award (for short films) A Chjàna by Jonas Carpignano
Controcampo Doc Award (for documentaries) Pugni chiusi by Fiorella Infascelli
Special Mentions: to the documentary Black Block by Carlo Augusto Bachschmidt to Francesco Di Giacomo for the cinematography of Pugni chiusi
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Marco Bellocchio
Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award 2011 Al Pacino
Persol 3D Award for the Most Creative Stereoscopic Film of the Year Zapruder Filmmakers Group (David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi, and Monaldo Moretti)
L'Oréal Paris Award for Cinema Nicole Grimaudo
