Colin Farrell has won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and writer-director Martin McDonagh has won Best Screenplay at the Venice International Film Festival for their new film with Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin.

The wins will see the already-Oscar-tipped dark comedy gain momentum in the build-up to the Academy Award nominations in January.

Accepting his Best Actor award in a video message, Farrell said: "I am utterly shocked to get this. And thrilled."

The Dubliner paid tribute to his "dear friend" McDonagh and said he shared the award with another great friend - Gleeson. Farrell also saluted the rest of the cast and crew.

Accepting his award in person, filmmaker McDonagh said the honour was the perfect way to end his experience of premiering The Banshees of Inisherin in Venice.

The long-awaited reunion of In Bruges trio Farrell, Gleeson and McDonagh is set on an island off the west coast of Ireland in 1923 and also stars Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

It follows lifelong friends Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship.

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Filmed on Inis Mór and Achill Island, The Banshees of Inisherin is the first film London-born McDonagh has made in Ireland since his Oscar-winning, Gleeson-starring 2004 short Six Shooter.

"To do something in Ireland was majestic, especially the west of Ireland was a dream of mine," said McDonagh in Venice earlier this week.

Producer Graham Broadbent, Martin McDonagh, Kerry Condon, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in Venice on Monday for the world premiere of The Banshees of Inisherin

"The whole area where we filmed was where I went back to when I was a kid to visit relatives. It's where my dad's from."

McDonagh previously won Best Screenplay at the festival for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Martin McDonagh and Colin Farrell during the filming of The Banshees of Inisherin Photo: Fox Searchlight

The Banshees of Inisherin opens in Irish cinemas on Friday 21 October.

Earlier this week, Co Tipperary native Condon was included on US entertainment trade publication Variety's 10 Actors to Watch list for 2022.

Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin Photo: Fox Searchlight

The winners from the films screening in competition at the Venice International Film Festival:

Golden Lion for Best Film
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Laura Poitras (director)

Grand Jury Prize
Saint Omer, Alice Diop (director)

Silver Lion for Best Director
Bones and All, Luca Guadagnino

Special Jury Prize
No Bears, Jafar Panahi (director)

Best Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh

Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Tár, Cate Blanchett

Volpi Cup for Best Actor
The Banshees of Inisherin, Colin Farrell

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor
Bones and All, Taylor Russell

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