Russian director Alexander Sokurov's movie "Faust" won the top prize of the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Lion, on Saturday.
"Of course I am excited: I had to walk such a long road to win it. I am happy to live in cinematography," Sokurov said as he was receiving the award from jury chairman Darren Aronofsky.
"Faust" is a take on the classic German legend of a man striving for power at all cost, who sells his soul to the devil. The movie is based on the first part of Goethe's tragedy.
The film is the final part of Sokurov's tetralogy about man and power, the first three of which are "Moloch" about Hitler, "Taurus" about Lenin and "The Sun" about Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
China's Shangjun Cai took the Silver Lion prize for best director for his revenge story "People Mountain People Sea."
