MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 2) Pepe Diokno’s “Engkwentro” won the top honor in the Orizzonti (New Horizons) division of the 66th Venice Film Festival on Saturday, the young independent filmmaker told Inquirer via SMS.

Diokno, 22, who flew to the Italian city for the oldest and one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, received the Luigi De Laurentiis award.

The Orizzonti for Best documentary went to “1428” of Du Haibin from China while Amit Dutta of India got the Special Mention for the entry “Aadmi ki aurat aur anya kahaniya” (The Man’s Woman and Other Stories).

Venice’s Orizzonti section provides a spectrum of new trends in cinema.

A Cinemalaya 2009 finalist, “Engkwentro” was written, directed and produced by Diokno. In was shot handheld style.

“Engkwentro” deals with state-sponsored vigilante killings in the Philippines.

It follows a day in the lives of Richard (Felix Roco) and his brother, Raymond (Daniel Medrana), who find themselves on opposite sides of a gang war. Richard is the leader of Bagong Buwan and Tomas’ archenemy.

Complications arise at a deadly midnight engkwentro (square-off), when Raymond is given the task of killing his older brother.

Meanwhile, Brillante Mendoza’s latest digital movie “Lola”, failed to bag any award in the main competition, said co-producer Ferdy Lapus.

But “Lola”, which tells the story of two grandmothers whose grandsons figured in a crime—one of them is the suspect, and the other one is the victim—merited good reviews from critics, Lapus said.

Israeli Samuel Maoz’s "Lebanon", the story of the first Lebanon war told from inside an Israeli tank, won the Golden Lion. Bayani San Diego, Inquirer Entertainment