A documentary tracing an artist's campaign against the family accused of helping to spark the US opioid drug epidemic scooped the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, on Saturday.
Cate Blanchett won her second Venice acting award for her performance as a predatory classical music conductor in Tár, having won in 2008 for her unexpected turn as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.
She thanked "people around the world who make music which has kept us going in the last couple of years".
Colin Farrell was named Best Actor for his part in the pitch-black Irish drama The Banshees of Inisherin, which also won the best screenplay award for writer-director Martin McDonagh.
Scroll through the gallery below to see fashion from the opening ceremony of Venice Film Festival 2022
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Julianne Moore attends the premiere of 'White Noise' at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in a black sequinned Valentino dress. Getty Images -
Adam Driver wears a black tuxedo. Getty Images -
Jodie Turner-Smith in a black and silver sequinned Gucci dress with lime green satin gloves. Getty Images -
Jury member Leila Hatami wears a black dress and headscarf at the 'White Noise' premiere. Getty Images -
Rege-Jean Page wears a black tuxedo. EPA -
Don Cheadle in a navy blue tuxedo. EPA -
Tessa Thompson wears peplum Armani Prive. Getty Images -
Grace Elizabeth wears white Alberta Ferretti. Getty Images -
Barbara Palvin, in a black sequinned Armani gown and Dylan Sprouse, in a black tuxedo. Getty Images -
Elisa Sednaoui wears a black sequinned gown. Getty Images -
Raffey Cassidy wears sequinned and feathered Valentino. Getty Images -
Greta Gerwig wears a black dress. Getty Images -
Melanie Laurent wears a nude, sequinned Gucci dress. Getty Images -
Melita Toscan du Plantier and Christian Louboutin. Getty Images -
Catherine Deneuve in red Saint Laurent. EPA -
Fancy Alexandersson in a gold sequinned midi dress. Getty Images -
Bianca Brandolini wears a black tulle Giambattista Valli gown. Getty Images -
Isabeli Fontana in a white mini-dress with a flowing cape. Getty Images -
Paola Turani wears a cut-out black dress. Getty Images -
Zion Moreno wears a mint-green pleated dress. Getty Images -
Hillary Clinton wears a blue kaftan. Getty Images -
Alessandra Ambrosio wears a pink caped dress. Getty Images -
Matilde Gioli wears a plunging taupe gown. Getty Images -
Oliver Cheshire wears an open-collar black Armani tuxedo. Getty Images -
Pixie Lott wears a red Armani jumpsuit. AP Photo -
Ilona Matsour wears a tiered pink tulle dress. Getty Images
But the jury, led by Julianne Moore, determined that the best of the 23 films in competition was All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
It is the latest documentary from Oscar-winner Laura Poitras, who previously made history as the first person to contact whistleblower Edward Snowden when he exposed massive surveillance by the National Security Agency.
Her new film explores the traumatic and brilliant life of photographer Nan Goldin, and her recent campaign to publicly shame the Sackler family who own the pharmaceutical firm behind painkiller OxyContin.
"I've known a lot of brave and courageous people in my life but I've never known anyone like Nan," Poitras said as she picked up the award.
"Someone who could decide to take on the billionaire Sackler family, which is ruthless and responsible for countless deaths and so much bloodshed."
The opioid addiction crisis has caused more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the US — and the Sackler's company has been ordered to pay up to $6 billion in damages.
Cannibal wins
Taylor Russell won the Best Newcomer award for Bones and All, in which she played alongside Timothee Chalamet as lovelorn cannibals.
Italy's Luca Guadagnino also won Best Director for the film, which saw him reunited with Chalamet following their Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name.
The Special Jury prize went to No Bears by Iran's Jafar Panahi who in July was imprisoned for "propaganda against the system". His detention was the subject of a flash mob protest on Friday on the Venice red carpet, led by Moore.
The film's actor, Reza Heydari, told journalists after the awards he had received a message earlier in the day from Panahi in prison.
"He told me do not get in trouble for him," he said. "The award he has received brings a message — an artist in a prison or outside a prison can still produce his message because he loves art and he loves cinema."
The second place Silver Lion went to Saint Omer by French director Alice Diop, inspired by the true story of a Senegalese migrant on trial for infanticide in France.
Mixed reviews
Critics were deeply divided over many of the films at this year's festival, but it was a stellar year for individual actors.
There were rave reviews for Brendan Fraser, making an unlikely comeback from the Hollywood wilderness as a morbidly obese English professor in The Whale.
And, Hugh Jackman's performance as a father dealing with a depressed teenager in The Son was labelled the best of his career.
Netflix had been hoping for a big year, but its much-hyped Marilyn Monroe biopic, Blonde, tested the patience of many critics, despite acclaim for its Cuban star Ana de Armas.
Venice Immersive provides a glimpse into the future of film and much more — in pictures
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The immersive experience 'Tu vivras, mon fils (Stay Alive My Son)' is based on the memoirs of Pin Yathay, a former engineer who documented Cambodia’s Killing Fields. Photo: Venice Immersive 2022 -
Curated by Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac, Venice Immersive offers an array of experiences, incorporating technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverse. AP -
Directed by Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael, 'Space Explorers: The ISS Experience' offers a glimpse into what it’s like to float in space. Photo: Venice Immersive 2022 -
'On The Morning You Wake (To The End of the World)' by Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Pierre Zandrowicz and Arnaud Colinart simulates an event from 2018 when Hawaii residents woke up to warnings of an inbound missile. Photo: Venice Immersive 2022 -
An image from 'Framerate: Pulse of the Earth' by Matthew Shaw and William Trossell. AP
