Highlights of the 73rd Venice Film Festival awards

Winning the festival's top award, Philippine director Lav Diaz's almost four-hour film "Ang Babaeng Humayo" ("The Woman Who Left") is actually short compared to the one he presented at the Berlinale earlier this year: "Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis" ("A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery") is an eight-hour work.

The Silver Lion went to designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford and "Nocturnal Animals," a spooky, stirring romantic thriller exploring love, betrayal and revenge. The film stars Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Natalie Portman stars as Jacqueline Kennedy in the bio-drama "Jackie." The film, by Chilean director Pablo Larrain, depicts the week after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963. It was written by Noah Oppenheim., who took home the award for best screenplay.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star in a quirky tale of an actress trying to make it in Los Angeles and her boyfriend, a struggling jazz pianist. "La La Land," directed by Damien Chazelle, pays tribute to the Golden Age of American musicals. Stone won the award for best actress for her performance.

The Argentine comedic drama "El Ciudadano Ilustre" ("The Distinguished Citizen"), by Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn, is about fame, idols and small-town jealousy. It was among the critics' favorites. Oscar Martinez won the award for best actor for his role as a cynical Nobel Prize laureate back in his hometown after years. He was also in the cast of the 2001 German movie, "Berlin is in Germany."

Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey co-star in the horror-thriller "Bad Batch," directed by Ana Lily Amirpour (pictured). In this dystopian cannibal love story set in a futuristic United States, a young girl wanders a desert wasteland and gets sliced up.

Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica has said his latest work, "Na Mlijecnom Putu" ("On the Milky Road"), will be his last entry in a film festival. He starred in it himself, along with Italian actress Monica Bellucci. His first feature film, "Sjećaš li se Doli Bel?" ("Do You Remember Dolly Bell?"), won Kusturica a Golden Lion in 1981 - but didn't win anything this year.

Germany's star director Wim Wenders was also part of the competition with "The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez," starring singer-songwriter Nick Cave. The film was shot in 3D, yet limited the action to a couple's intimate conversation in a garden. Despite the inventive shooting style, it failed to win an award.

Starring in French filmmaker Francois Ozon's "Frantz," Paula Beer portrayed a young woman who meets a French soldier while mourning her fiance, who died during World War I. The German actress won the award for her quiet and nuanced portrayal, said the judges.