The prize, which is given by area-school students, has typically predicted which film will also take the Festival's top honor; however, the Festival's Golden Lion for Best Film Award went to "Faust" by Aleksander Sokurov.
Al Pacino was named the recipient of the Festival's Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award, and his film "Wilde Salome" received the Queer Lion Award.
Director Roman Polanski collaborated with Reza on the screen adaptation of God of Carnage, which will make its U.S. debut as the opening selection of the New York Film Festival, which runs Sept. 30-Oct. 16.
The cast features John C. Reilly as Michael, Jodie Foster as his wife Penelope, Kate Winslet as Nancy and Christoph Waltz as her husband, Alan. In the stage production, the characters of Penelope and Nancy were originally Veronica and Annette, respectively.
Here's a look at the trailer for the film:
