Actress Cate Blanchett was honored with best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for portraying Bob Dylan in biographical movie "I’m Not There," while Brad Pitt was awarded for his part in "The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford."

However, neither of the two, who starred together in 2006’s "Babel," could make it to the awards ceremony, but Blanchett sent a thanking note.

"I'm sorry I can't stand here throwing my arms around Todd, weeping just like a woman," the statement said.

Pitt and his partner, actress Angelina Jolie, made an appearance at the Toronto Film Festival where Pitt’s latest movie made its North American premiere.

"I was stunned," Pitt told reporters in Toronto on Saturday. "My first reaction was, ‘Huh?’ I did not expect it. It’s a great honor. I am honored to be part of the list of actors who won this award. I’m still processing this."

Taiwanese director Ang Lee scooped his second Venice Film Festival top prize for the sexually explicit spy thriller "Lust, Caution," set in Shanghai during World War II.

The movie focused on the story of a young woman who joins an acting group and finds herself in the middle of an assassinating plot of a powerful political figure. The flick has been given an NC-17 rating in the United States, banning viewers under 17.

Two years ago, Lee won the Golden Lion as well as an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

In his accepting speech, Lee said he was doing so "in the shadow of the passing of two great giants," Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni, who passed away a day later, "I realize how huge this festival has become."

"Ingmar hugged me the way a mother hugs a child," Lee said. "This hug was not for me, it was for you, the guardians of cinema," he told the public and the juries.

Lee’s victory also marked a growing Asian dominance at the Venice Film festival as six out of ten Golden Lions were taken to the continent.

Other winners include British director Ken Loach for best screenplay of "It's a Free World" and veteran US director Brian De Palma who was awarded a special Silver Lion for his film, "Redacted," which depicts the shocking rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by US soldiers.