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.
The audience award for best narrative feature went to Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M., which Roadside Attractions has just begun to release theatrically. The audience award for best documentary feature went to Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s Soul Power, while Eva Norvind’s Born Without (Nacido Sin) won the audience award for best international feature. Shayne Topp was presented with the prize for outstanding performance in the narrative competition for his role in Suzi Yoonessi’s Dear Lemon Lima.
Other winners at the fest included Antonio Mendez Esparza’s Time and Again, which won for narrative short, Anna Gaskell’s Replayground, winning for documentary short and Jeremy Clapin’s Skhizein, which too home a proze for animated short. Additional winners included Patrick Eklund’s Instead of Abracadabra, which won the audience award for best short and Walter Robot’s “Grapevine Fires,” which took home the audience award for best video.
