Director Samuel Maoz holds the Golden Lion Best Film Award for Lebanon at the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Saturday. (Domenico Stinellis/Associated Press)

Lebanon, an Israeli film that recounts Israel's 1982 invasion of the Middle East country through soldiers' eyes, garnered the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

The festival jury announced several prizes on the last day of the 11-day screening of films from around the world.

Directed by Samuel Maoz, the anti-war movie tells the story of Israeli troops searching a hostile town. The action is viewed through the binocular-aided eyes of those aboard an armoured vehicle.

"I dedicate this work to people all over the world that come back from the war safe and sound," the director told the audience at the award ceremony on Saturday.

"They work, get married, have children," but the memories get "stuck in their souls."

Maoz served in the Israeli armed forces during the invasion, which lead to a two-decades-long occupation by Israel.

Acting award to Colin Firth

The best directing award went to Iranian Shirin Neshat for Women Without Men, which examines the lives of four women during Iran's foreign-backed coup in 1953 while Todd Solondz' black comedy Life During Wartime grabbed the best screenplay prize.

Acting accolades went to Colin Firth for best actor in Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, which had earlier won the Queer Golden Lion for best gay-themed movie at Venice. The trophy is independent of the festival.

In the adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel, Firth portrays a gay professor mourning the accidental death of his partner.

The festival jury handed Russian Ksenia Rappoport the best actress award for her part in Giuseppe Capotondi's La Doppia Ora.

The awards jury was headed by director Ang Lee, himself a Golden Lion winner for Brokeback Mountain.