2010 Los Angeles Film Festival Award Winners « Los Angeles Film Festival 2010

2010 Los Angeles Film Festival Award Winners

2010 Los Angeles Film Festival Narrative and Documentary Award

There were thousands of movie fans at the festival this year, discovering new stories from our talented filmmakers,” said Film Independent Executive Director Dawn Hudson. “We are delighted to have the support of the Los Angeles film-going community for these films and their creators”

The two top juried awards of the Los Angeles Film Festival are the Narrative Award and Documentary Award, each carrying an unrestricted $50,000 cash prize, funded by Film Independent, for the winning film’s director. The awards were established by the Festival encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions.

“In a year that celebrated an exhilarating spectrum of American and international cinema, it’s so fitting that these jury awards reflect the incredible diversity of the Festival,” said Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham.

The Narrative Award recognizes the finest narrative film in competition at the Festival and went to Pernille Fischer Christensen for A Family (En Familie). The Documentary Award recognizes the finest documentary film in competition at the Festival and went to J. Clay Tweel for Make Believe.

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. Given to an actor or actors from an official selection in the Narrative Competition, this is the seventh year the award has been given at the Festival.

The award for Best Narrative Short Film went to Pablo Larcuen’s My Invisible Friend. The award for Best Documentary Short Film went to Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky One. Beomsik Shimbe Shim’s Wonder Hospital won the award for Best Animated Short Film.

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.

Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature)

Winner: A Family (En Familie) directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen

Writers: Kim Fupz Aakeson, Pernille Fischer Christensen
Producers: Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Vinca Wiedemann
Cast: Jesper Christensen, Lene Maria Christensen, Line Kruse, Pilou Asbæk, Anne Louise Hassing

Film Description: (Denmark) The conflict between love and duty plays out in this stunning, award-winning saga about a successful Danish family that faces agonizing choices when its charismatic patriarch falls ill.

In bestowing Pernille Fischer Christensen with the Narrative Award, the Jury stated:

“En Familie (A Family) is a film that on all levels was deemed outstanding. Insightfully directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen, and featuring heartbreaking performances by Jesper Christensen and Lene Maria Christensen, the film delicately dramatizes the wrenching choices a young woman must make as she navigates the ties of tradition, guilt, and love that bring a Danish family together when its patriarch faces his final days.”

Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature)

Winner: Make Believe directed by J. Clay Tweel

Producer: Steven Klein

Film Description: (Japan/South Africa/USA) Armed with magic hoops, decks of cards and homegrown illusions, six hopefuls from around the world prepare for Las Vegas’ World Magic Seminar, and the chance to win the title of Teen World Premiere.

In bestowing J. Clay Tweel with the Documentary Award, the Jury stated:

“Using the non-fiction competition genre, Make Believe takes advantage of the suspense narrative structure to transport audiences into an infinitely richer experience: the disappearing/appearing act that is a teenager’s bumpy road to belonging and identity. The film’s incisive layering of humor, drama, humanism, observational acuity and upended expectations does wonderful emotional justice to the film’s charismatic cast of magician hopefuls.”

Best Ensemble Performance in the Narrative Competition

Winner: Sabrina Lloyd, James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Harry Chase, Nate Smith and Kamel Boutros in Adam Reid’s Hello Lonesome

Film Description: With an enchanting mixture of laughter and longing, the worlds of six, eclectic, lonely individuals are woven together as they explore those age-old human desires: to love and be loved.

In bestowing the actors with Best Ensemble Performance, the Jury stated:

The ensemble cast of Hello Lonesome gave hilarious, touching portrayals of lovers and friends who ought not to gel in any universe we’d recognize, but do by some persuasive miracle of weird karma. We also commend their director Adam Reid, for enabling them.

Best Narrative Short Film

Winner: My Invisible Friend by Pablo Larcuen

Producers: Andrea Puig, Christian Rodrigo
Cast: Pablo Vazquez, Montse Marti, Jordi Romanos, Sergio Huguet

Description: (Spain) We all had imaginary friends in our lives but Tomas’ may just be the best.

In bestowing Pablo Larcuen with Best Narrative Short Film, the Jury stated:

My Invisible Friend popped as a hilarious, rude, touching tale with many unexpected twists. Pitch-perfect in its own dark way, it earned its ironic yet heartfelt storybook ending

Best Documentary Short Film

Winner: The Lucky Ones by Tomasz Wolski

Producer: Anna Gawlita Kijora

Description: (Poland) Life’s milestones are viewed through the window of a Polish government registry office.

In bestowing Tomasz Wolski with Best Documentary Short Film, the Jury stated:

In The Lucky Ones, the entirety of the human experience – milestones of birth, marriage and death – are lyrically captured in the simple daily exchanges of a Polish registry office. It is a humorous, bittersweet celebration of the poetry of ordinary life.

Best Animated Short Film

Winner: Wonder Hospital by Beomsik Shimbe Shim

Producer: Beomsik Shimbe Shim
Cast: Winona Regan

Description: (South Korea/USA) A look at the puzzling illusion of beauty through a blend of 3D, CGI, and live-action puppetry.

In bestowing Beomsik Shimbe Shim with Best Animated Short Film, the Jury stated:

Wonder Hospital is a feat of pure imagination. Its inventive mix of animation and puppetry evokes a hauntingly surreal landscape of the mind and body.

2010 Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award Winners

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.

The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No, directed by James Blagden. The video for OK Go’s This Too Shall Pass, directed by James Frost, OK Go, and Syyn Labs won the Audience Award for Best Music Video.

As previously announced at the Festival Awards Ceremony at CHAYA Downtown, Pernille Fischer Christensen’s A Family took home the Jury Narrative Award, and J. Clay Tweel’s Make Believe won the Jury Documentary Award. Best Ensemble Performance was awarded to Sabrina Lloyd, James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Harry Chase, Nate Smith, and Kamel Boutros for their performance in Adam Reid’s Hello Lonesome. Jury awards for the Short Film Competition were given to Pablo Larcuen’s My Invisible Friend for Best Narrative Short, Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky Ones for Best Documentary Short, and Beomsik Shimbe Shim’s The Wonder Hospital for Best Animated Short Film.

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

Four Lions directed by Christopher Morris

Writers: Christopher Morris, Jesse Armstrong, and Sam Bain
Producers: Mark Herbert, Derrin Schlesinger
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak, and Adeel Akhtar

Film Description: (England) Never one to shy away from taboo subjects, celebrated British satirist Christopher Morris tackles modern jihadism in this comedy of terrors about four bumbling suicide bombers in training.

This award is given to the narrative feature audiences liked most as voted by a tabulated rating system. Select narrative feature-length films screening in the following sections were eligible for the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: Galas, Narrative Competition, International Showcase, Summer Screenings, Outdoor Screenings at the Ford Amphitheatre, Community Screenings, The Beyond, and Special Screenings.

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Thunder Soul

Director: Mark Landsman
Producers: Keith Calder, Mark Landsman, Jessica Wu
Featuring: The Kashmere Stage Band, Conrad O. Johnson

Film Description: A high school band unlike any other, the Kashmere Stage Band was a worldwide sensation in the ‘70s. Thirty-five years later, the band reunites to pay tribute to the man who made it all possible.

Audience Award for Best International Feature

Presumed Guilty

Directors: Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith
Producers: Layda Negrete, Roberto Hernández, Martha Sosa, Yissel Ibarra

Film Description: (Mexico) In Mexico, where 92 percent of convictions are not based on any physical evidence, two lawyers use the documentary lens to expose an abominable justice system and free one innocent man