The two top juried awards of the 16th annual Los Angeles Film Festival, the Narrative Award and Documentary Award, were bestowed this past weekend upon director/writer Pernille Fischer Christensen’s A Family (En Familie), and director J. Clay Tweel’s Make Believe, respectively. Each award carries an unrestricted $50,000 cash prize for the winning film’s director. The prize is funded by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Los Angeles Film Festival as well as the Spirit Awards. The monetary awards were established by the Festival to encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions.
A Family centers on a successful Danish family that faces agonizing choices when its charismatic patriarch falls ill. Christensen directed the film and co-wrote it with Kim Fupz Aakeson.
Meanwhile the Documentary Award winner, Make Believe, shares the stories of six magician hopefuls from around the globe as they prepare for Las Vegas’ World Magic Seminar.
Other honorees in the jury competition were:
o The award for Best Ensemble Performance in the Narrative Competition went to Sabrina Lloyd, James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Harry Chase, Nate Smith and Kamel Boutros for their performance in Adam Reid’s Hello Lonesome. The film examines the worlds of six, eclectic, lonely individuals woven together as they explore those age-old human desires: to love and be loved.
o The award for Best Narrative Short Film went to director Pablo Larcuen’s My Invisible Friend, a funny, rude, touching tale about Tomas and his imaginary friends.
o The award for Best Documentary Short Film went to director Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky One in which life’s milestones are viewed through the window of a Polish government registry office.
o And Beomsik Shimbe Shim’s Wonder Hospital won the award for Best Animated Short Film. The short looks at the puzzling illusion of beauty through a blend of 3D, CGI and live-action puppetry.
The Narrative Feature Competition jury was comprised of director Charles Burnett, screenwriter/producer Larry Karaszewski, and LA Weekly film critic Ella Taylor. The Documentary Feature Competition jury was comprised of director/actress Karen Moncrief, director Arthur Dong, and film critic and journalist Robert Abele. The Shorts Competition jury was comprised of writer/performer Sandra Tsing Loh, actor Andrew Garfield, and director Tommy O’Haver.
Audience Award winners
Meanwhile, a tabulated ratings system at the Los Angeles Film Festival yielded this year’s crop of Audience Award honorees.
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Four Lions directed by Christopher Morris and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Thunder Soul, directed by Mark Landsman. Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith’s Presumed Guilty won the Audience Award for Best International Feature.
In Four Lions, satirist Morris tackles modern jihadism with a story about four bumbling suicide bombers in training.
Director Landsman’s Thunder Soul documentary centers on the Kashmere Stage Band, a high school band that became a worldwide sensation in the 1970s. Thirty-five years later, the band reunites to pay tribute to the man who made it all possible.
And Presumed Guilty, directed by Hernández and Smith, casts light on Mexico’s corrupt justice system and looks to help free an innocent man.
The Audience Award for Best Short film went to director James Blagdan’s Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No, in which Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Dock Ellis revisits his LSD fueled no-hitter.
And the Audience Award for Best Music Video was bestowed upon directors James Frost for OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass.” Frost directs commercials, videos and branded content via Zoo Film. “This Too Shall Pass” was honored several weeks ago in the Next Viral/Web Film category of the AICP Show’s Next Awards.
The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival–which ran from June 17-27 with downtown’s L.A. Live as the hub venue–screened over 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos, representing more than 40 countries. This year, the Festival received more than 4,700 submissions from filmmakers around the world. The final selections represent 28 World, North American, and U.S. premieres, which more than doubled from 2009. The number of films competing in the narrative and documentary competition categories also increased this year from 13 to 18, of which half are World premieres.
The Los Angeles Film Festival was presented by the Los Angeles Times and is supported by L.A. Live and premier sponsor ZonePerfect Nutrition Bars and principal sponsors Kodak and Subaru. Special support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
