Del Toro's fairy tale wins top prize at Venice Film Festival

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water," a dark fairy tale in which a mute cleaning lady falls in love with an aquatic creature, won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 9.

The film beat contenders including George Clooney's "Suburbicon" and Alexander Payne's "Downsizing" at the end of a 10-day, high-quality and star-studded movie marathon that critics said showed Venice was now on an equal footing with the widely revered Cannes film festival.

"As a Mexican, I want to say this is a first for a Mexican storyteller so I want to dedicate and give the prize to every young Mexican film-maker or Latin American film-maker that is dreaming to do something in the fantastic genre, as a fairytale, as a parable, and is faced with a lot of people saying it can't be done. It can," del Toro said.  

The runner-up Grand Jury prize went to family tragedy "Foxtrot" by Israel's Samuel Maoz, while France's Xavier Legrand was picked as best director for his divorce drama "Jusqu'a la Garde" (Custody).

Charlotte Rampling received the best actress award for her performance in Italian film "Hannah," while Palestinian Kamel El Basha took the best actor prize for his role in "The Insult."

The award ceremony brings down the curtain on the Venice festival, the world's oldest, which is seen as a launching pad for the industry's award season.

Movie-makers will be hoping for a replay of the success of films such as musical "La La Land", clergy sex-abuse drama "Spotlight", space movie "Gravity" and backstage comedy "Birdman", which all won Academy Awards after premiering in Venice.

"This is an incredible day for Mexican film, for Mexican storytellers. The three amigos have now...