A gentle study of dysfunctional families by veteran American director Jim Jarmusch clinched the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, while a harrowing docudrama about Gaza took second, AFP reports.

Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, drew mostly positive reviews for its humorous portrayal of awkwardness and guilt.

In a move that might disappoint campaigners against Israel’s Gaza onslaught, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward The Voice of Hind Rajab with the Golden Lion.

Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize.

Hind Rajab’s story “is not hers alone”, Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Han said as she accepted her award. “It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity,” she added.