Akin who was born in Hamburg of Turkish parents was making his Venice debut but has won awards for his films worldwide including the Turkish documentary Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul. His films are also popular in Turkey and he told FNE during the festival that he currently has another Turkish project in development.

Another film that caused a stir during the festival was the Romanian film Francesca directed by Bobby Paunescu and produced by Mandragora Movies (www.mandragora.ro). The film was threatened with legal action by Italian right wing politician Alessandra Mussolini to prevent its distribution in Italy. Mussolini took exception to the film's language describing some Italian politician's stance on Romanian immigrants. The film is due to be released by Fandango in Italy in October and Paunescu has said he will not change or re-edit the film.

Prize Winners of the 2009 Venice Film Festival

GOLDEN LION FOR BEST FILM - "Lebanon" by Israeli director Samuel Maoz

SILVER LION FOR BEST DIRECTOR - Iranian video artist Shirin Neshat for "Women Without Men"

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE - "Soul Kitchen," directed by German-born Fatih Akin

BEST ACTOR - Britain's Colin Firth for Tom Ford's "A Single Man"

BEST ACTRESS - Russian Ksenia Rappoport for "La Doppia Ora"

BEST SCREENPLAY - U.S. director Todd Solondz for "Life During Wartime"

BEST DEBUT FILM - Filipino director Pepe Diokno for "Engkwentro" (Clash) BEST SET DESIGN - Sylvie Olive for Jaco Van Dormael's "Mr. Nobody"

BEST EMERGING PERFORMER - Italy's Jasmine Trinca for "Il Grande Sogno"