Pigeon film picks up Golden Lion

Swedish director Roy Andersson's film, a series of bleak comic vignettes exploring the human condition, was the winner of the Golden Lion in Venice on Saturday.

The absurdist film "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" was selected by a jury led by composer Alexandre Desplat for the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Set in modern day Sweden, the offbeat feature follows the exploits of two men trying - without a great deal of success - to sell false teeth and other joke novelties.

"It's the first time a Swedish film wins the Golden Lion, I'm hugely proud," Andersson said as he picked up the award.

"You have such a fantastic film history," he told his Italian hosts. "And I know that in Italy you have taste."

Praise for 'Bicycle Thieves'

In particular, Andersson paid tribute to Italian neo-realist master Vittorio De Sica, especially the film "Bicycle Thieves," which he described as "humanist and full of empathy."

"I think that is what cinema should be," said the 71-year-old. "I will go on and try to make as good films as Vittorio De Sica's."

The Silver Lion for best director went to Russia's Andrei Konchalovsky for his near-silent drama "The Postman's White Nights."

The main acting prizes were claimed by US actor Adam Driver and Italy's Alba Rohrwacher, who played a couple getting used to parenthood in the film "Hungry Hearts."

Joshua Oppenheimer's powerful documentary about the legacy of Indonesian massacres, "The Look of Silence," won the Grand Jury Prize.

rc/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)