Director Stéphane Lafleur’s Familiar Ground won the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Narrative Award while directors Beverly Kopf and Bobbie Birleffi’s Wish Me Away took the Documentary Award. The Narrative and Documentary Awards are the top two juried awards of the festival, each carrying an unrestricted $15,000 cash prize, funded by Film Independent, for the winning film’s director(s). A non-profit arts organization, Film Independent produces the L.A. Film Festival. This year the 17th annual festival ran in downtown Los Angeles from June 16-26.
Familiar Ground–which made its North American premiere at the festival–is a droll, deadpan comedy from snowbound Quebec which features an unhappy brother and sister whose fates seem to be known by a mysterious Man From the Future. Not too far in the future though–just next September.
Meanwhile Wish Me Away, which had its worldwide debut at the L.A. Fest, chronicles the heart-wrenching decision of Nashville singing star Chely Wright to come out of the closet despite the potentially crushing response from the industry and her fans.
The award for Best Performance in the Narrative Competition went to Amber Sealey, Kent Osborne, Amanda Street, and Gabriel Diamond for their performances in Amber Sealey’s How to Cheat. Given to an actor or actors from an official selection in the Narrative Competition, this is the eighth year the award has been given at the Festival.
Short but sweet
For the first time, the Los Angeles Film Festival awarded an unrestricted $5,000 cash prize to each short film category winner.
The award for Best Narrative Short Film went to Saba Riazi’s The Wind Is Blowing on My Street.
The award for Best Documentary Short Film went to Susan Koenen’s I Am a Girl!.
And Mikey Please’s The Eagleman Stag won the award for Best Animated Short Film. The Eagleman Stag also recently earned Please a slot in Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors’ Showcase at Cannes (SHOOTonline, 6/23). Please is repped for spots and branded content by Agile Films, London.
Audience favorites
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Attack the Block, directed by Joe Cornish.
The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, directed by Michael Rapaport.
Asif Kapadia’s Senna won the Audience Award for Best International Feature.
The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Blind Date, directed by Joe Rosen.
And “Can’t Shake This Feeling,” directed by The General Assembly’s Adam Littke, Ryan McNeill, and Adam Willis won the Audience Award for Best Music Video for Grum. This music clip earlier this month earned The General Assembly inclusion in the aforementioned Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase. (McNeill has since left The General Assembly and is repped by More Media. The General Assembly continues to be handled for spots and branded content by Skin Flicks in the U.K. and Townhall stateside.
Conversations
In addition to assorted screenings and film debuts, the Los Angeles Film Festival held Conversations with James Franco, Julie Taymor, Jack Black, and Shirley MacLaine, with panelists and moderators including Diablo Cody, Dustin Lance Black, Ruben Fleischer, Robert Ben Garant, Andy Garcia, Rachael Harris, Quincy Jones, Richard Kelly, Thomas Lennon, Derek Luke, Frank Pierson, David Milch, Thomas Newman, Philip Noyce, and Jason Ritter.
Guillermo del Toro was this year’s guest director of the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival. In his role as guest director, del Toro presented Pupi Avati’s The Arcane Enchanter, a rarely seen Italian horror film that has inspired his work. Erykah Badu and Daniele Luppi served as this year’s Artists in Residence. As Artists in Residence, each programmed an event that inspired their work. Grammy Award-winning musician Badu selected Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying, followed by a conversation. Composer Luppi selected Sergio Corbucci’s Navajo Joe, followed by a conversation about movies and music.
