The acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has won the top prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival – the Golden Lion – for a film about assisted dying.

The Room Next Door – starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore – is his first feature film in the English language.

Accepting the trophy, the director said that dying with dignity was a fundamental right.

Nicole Kidman was named the best actress for her role in Babygirl, while the best actor prize went to the French star Vincent Lindon, for The Quiet Son.

The American Brady Corbet won the best director prize for his US drama about architecture, The Brutalist. The best screenplay prize went to Heitor Lorega and Murilo Hauser for I’m Still Here.

The Grand Jury Prize went to Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio and Georgia’s Dea Kulumbegashvili won the Special Jury Prize for her film, April.

An American drama about aging, Familiar Touch, was named the best debut film.