Perhaps his best known film is "The Tree of Wooden Clogs" ("L'Albero degli zoccoli"), which was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. The film drew heavily on Olmi's grandmother's stories about peasant life in agricultural regions of Italy. In 1983 his film "Walking, Walking" was screened out of competition at Cannes. In 1988, his "La leggenda del santo bevitore" (The Legend of the Holy Drinker), based on the novella by Joseph Roth and starring Rutger Hauer, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival as well as a David di Donatello award.