Zvyagintsev was shaken by a tragic death after filming

The film tells the story of two adolescent boys who are subjected to a harsh regime when their strict father returns after a 10-year absence.

But there was real-life tragedy shortly after filming ended when one of its stars, 15-year-old actor Vladimir Girin, drowned in the lake where some scenes were set.

The runner-up Grand Prix Silver Lion went to Lebanese-born Randa Chahal Sabbag's The Kite - a film about love and separation on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Japanese director Takeshi Kitano won best director for Zatoichi, about a blind swordsman in 19th Century Japan.

Other awards were:

• Outstanding Individual Contribution: Marco Bellocchio for the script of Buongiorno, Notte (Good Morning, Night) - a film which revisits the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades;

• Best Actor: Sean Penn in 21 Grams, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, about three people thrown together by an accident;

• Best Actress: Katja Riemann in Rosenstrasse, which deals with the deportation of Jews in 1943 Berlin;

• Best Young Actor or Actress: Najat Bessalem in Raja.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival - the oldest event of its kind.