If you’re an aspiring screenwriter which, let’s face it, you may be, one way to break into the “business” is through a lab where you work with established mentors and advisers on honing your work and getting it in the hands of the right people. One of the most prestigious and famous of these labs is the one sponsored by Film Independent, a non-profit group dedicated to fostering and nurturing creativity that also produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards.

Today, they’ve announced a new group of writers who will participate in this year’s lab. Here’s all the info about the lucky 9 participants from the official press release.

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and Los Angeles Film Festival, has announced the screenwriters and film projects selected for its 10th annual Screenwriters Lab, sponsored by the Writers Guild of America, West.  Taking place in Los Angeles from August 17 until September 16, the Screenwriters Lab is an intensive five-week incubator designed to help writers improve their craft, and take their current scripts to the next level in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment.

Screenwriter and producer Meg LeFauve returns as this yearís Lab Instructor, and Lab Mentors and Guest Speakers include Allison Anders (Things Behind the Sun), Shauna Cross (Whip It!), Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child), Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), Kay Schaber-Wolf (WGAw), Michael Sucsy (Grey Gardens), and Ligiah Villalobos (La Misma Luna).

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The Los Angeles International Film Festival, which ran from June 18-28, has decided on its winners. Here’s a breakdown of what films and filmmakers came away with awards.

Sam Fleischner and Ben Chace’s Wah Do Dem (What They Do) earned the Target Filmmaker Award for best narrative film, while Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Hagerman’ Those Who Remain (Los Que se Quedan) took home the Target Documentary Award. The two top festival awards, which have a $50,000 cash prize each that go to the directors, were announced at Film Independent’s Filmmaker Awards Ceremony Brunch at the Hammer Museum in Westwood.

Wah Do Dem is the story a man who takes a Caribbean cruise alone after he is dumped by his girlfriend. Those Who Remain looks at Mexican families who are left behind after some of their family members emigrate north. This year the fest also presented a new award, the Target Dream in Color Award, recognizing a short film in the fest’s Future Filmmaker Showcase for high school students. Sam Rubin won that award for his film Lipstick.

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