An early favourite of the Venetian Biennale, Faust by Alexander Sokurov, shot in German with international cast, has been announced a winner.
      

An adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's seminal masterpiece marks the end of Sokurov's cinematographic enquiry into the nature of human power. His previous films studied the notion in the context of the great political, if controversial, figures of the 20th century - Vladimir Lenin of Russia (Taurus), Adolf Hitler of Germany (Moloch), and Emperor Hirohito of Japan (The Sun). Faust, in the words of the film's producer, Andrey Sigle, "has no particular relevance to contemporary events in the world—it is set in the early 19th century—but reflects Sokurov's enduring attempts to understand man and his inner forces".
      

Influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky, Sokurov has long been a regular at the Cannes Film Festival; however, since 2002 his most commercially successful feature has remained Russian Arch, filmed in a single unedited shot. The Golden Lion at the 68th Venetian Biennale is a major success both for the director and for his native country.
      
      
      
      A brief translation: "It (the Lion) is so small, and we had to walk such a long way to get it. I am grateful to be living in the cinema. Our film had a truly international cast and crew. At one point we counted people from 38 countries on the set. Grazie".
      
      

2011 seems to be a particularly successful year for the Russian film industry. The Edge by Alexei Uchitel has got on the long list for Oscar 2011. Andrei Zvyagintsev's film, Elena, has taken three awards in Cannes. Now Alexander Sokurov goes home with the Golden Lion of Venice.
      

A full list of winners at the Biennale di Venezia.
      

Source: La Biennale di Venezia, Wikipedia. Image courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia Flickr photostream.
Author: Julia Shuvalova