The veteran independent American director Jim Jarmusch has won the prestigious Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival, for his family triptych, Father Mother Sister Brother. With an ensemble cast including Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Waits, the film explores various relationships between siblings and their estranged parents.

It had been expected that the top prize might have gone to The Voice of Hind Rajab, a drama about the killing of a six year old girl during the Gaza War, which received a standing ovation of more than twenty minutes when it premiered at Venice – but the film instead received the Silver Lion runner-up Grand Jury Prize. The film was given a boost when, just before the festival, stars including Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix joined the project as executive producers.

The best director honours went to Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine. His first film without his brother Josh features Dwayne Johnson in his first dramatic role, playing the real-life mixed martial art fighter Mark Kerr.

The Chinese actress Xin Zhilei was named the best actress, for her role in The Sun Rises on Us All, while Italy’s Toni Servillo won the best actor award for his portrayal of an Italian president in Paolo Sorrentino’s drama La Grazia.

The French filmmakers, Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand, won the best screenplay prize for At Work, an adaptation of a novel of the same name by author Franck Courtès.

Distributors hoping for Oscar recognition often launch their high profile contenders at the Venice Film Festival, and new features by Noah Baumbach, Kathryn Bigelow, Park Chan-wook, Yorgos Lanthimos and Guillermo del Toro have all be premiered at the Palazzo del Cinema.