Director Chloe Zhao's Nomadland, a film about the van-dwelling community in America, has won the top award at the 77th Venice Film Festival. 

The film starring Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, is based on Jessica Bruder's nonfiction book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. The film follows the story of a widow from a Nevada mining town, who embraces the life of van-dwelling. 

Cate Blanchett, the jury president of this year's Venice Film Festival,  handed out this year's Golden and Silver Lion winners.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the whole ceremony was held with strict social distancing protocols. Many of the guests received their awards virtually via video calls. 

Chloe Zhao, who has earlier made films Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider, will be directing Marvel's much-anticipated superhero film Eternals.