MEXICAN director Alfonso Cuaron and his jury gave the festival’s Golden Lio top prize to the rookie Venezuelan film-maker Lorenzo Vigas’s From Afar.

Set in Caracas, it tells the story of the wealthy Armando (Alfredo Castro), middle-aged and struggling to connect to others emotionally, who develops an obsession with young petty criminal Elder (Luis Silva, pictured).

Their first encounter is a violent one but this doesn’t discourage his fascination with the handsome teenager.

Cash is initially the bait for Elder to visit him regularly but, over time, an unexpected intimacy develops. However, Armando’s past comes back to haunt him and tragedy ensues.

A sensitive and intelligent film on the social divide, it’s worth catching when it gets a British release.

The Silver Lion went to Argentinian Pablo Trapero’s The Clan.

Factually based, it focuses on the middle-class Puccio family who, in the early 1980s, were in the business of kidnapping the rich.

Well shot and well acted, it’s a chilling story told with utter conviction which reveals a profound grasp of the political context in a dark period of Argentina’s history.

Another debut film, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion animation Anomalisa, won the jury prize.

It follows a motivational speaker Michael Stone (David Thewliss) who’s in existential crisis until he meets

Lisa, voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh.

It’s an excellent experimental film, with a strong narrative which appeals to the emotions without ever verging on the sentimental.

Valeria Golino won the best actress prize as the eponymous heroine in Anna, who’s trying hard to turn her life around, in a spot-on portrait of a modern woman.

It may have missed out the awards but Zhao Liang’s Behemoth was an outstanding documentary on the giant mines that are transforming the Chinese economy and raising living standards for millions.

But they are destroying natural habitats, generating catastrophic pollution and leaving many workers with atrocious diseases.

Lingering shots of furnace smoke and grime-covered workers makes the film an eye-opening experience.

The festival, now in its 72nd year, saw 45 films screened under the direction of Alberto Barbera. It was particularly strong in showcasing some impressive debuts, experimental films and tackling acute global issues.

Long may it continue.