The Los Angeles Film Festival announced its 2014 jury and audience award winners.
The juried awards are the Narrative Award, the Documentary Award and the LA Muse Award, each carrying an unrestricted $5,000 cash prize for the winning film’s director. The winners of the short film awards each receive a $1,500 cash prize. The awards were established by the Festival to encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions.
The Narrative Award recognizes the finest narrative film in competition at the Festival and went to Dave Boyle for Man From Reno, which made its world premiere at the Festival. The Documentary Award recognizes the finest documentary film in competition at the Festival and went to Debra Granik for Stray Dog, which made its world premiere at the Festival. An honorable mention was also bestowed upon Eliza Kubarska’s Walking Under Water, which made its US premiere at the Festival. The inaugural LA Muse Award sponsored by Fox Audience Strategy goes to Damian John Harper for his film Los Ángeles, which had its international premiere at the Festival.
The Los Angeles Film Festival also awarded an unrestricted $1,500 cash prize to each short film category. The recipient for the Award for Best Narrative Short Film went to The Runaway, directed by Jean-Bernard Marlin. The Award for Best Documentary Short Film went to The Queen, directed by Manuel Abramovich. The Award for Best Animated or Experimental Short Film went to Butter Lamp, directed by Hu Wei. The Shorts Program Awards are funded by HBO.
Audience honors
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to The Young Kieslowski, directed by Kerem Sanga, and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Meet the Patels, directed by Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel. Someone You Love by Pernille Fischer Christensen won the Audience Award for Best International Feature.
The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to The Gunfighter, directed by Eric Kissack. "Turn Down For What: Lil John and DJ Snake," directed by Daniels with music by Lil John and DJ Snake, won the Audience Award for Best Music Video.
The narrative jury consists of director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, I Am Not A Hipster), who won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature in 2013, producer Stuart Cornfeld (Zoolander, Blades of Glory, Kafka, Dodgeball, The Fly, Tropic Thunder) and film critic Ella Taylor (NPR, Variety, The Wrap, The New York Times Arts & Leisure, LA Weekly, The Village Voice). The documentary jury is comprised of editor Lynzee Klingman (Hearts and Minds, A River Runs Through It, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, War of the Roses), Spirit Award-winning director Margaret Film Independent (The Great Invisible, The Order Of Myths, Be Here To Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt) and film critic and author Justin Chang (LAFCA, Variety). The LA Muse jury includes award-winning composer/singer-songwriter Kathryn Bostic (Middle of Nowhere, Make a Wish, I Will Follow, Dear White People), writer/director/producer Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance, Dog Sweat, The Day I Died), executive VP, Fox Audience Strategy Nicole Bernard and director Kevin Bray (Walking Tall, All About the Benjamins, Linewatch). The shorts jury consists of screenwriter/actor/director Todd Berger (It’s a Disaster, The Scenesters), Film Independent Spirit Award winning writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez (C.O.G., Easier with Practice) and casting director Julia Kim (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Get Shorty, Bedazzled, But I’m a Cheerleader), who won the Film Independent Spirit Awards Robert Altman Award for Casting Director and Best Ensemble Cast for the film Starlet in 2013.
Also announced earlier at the festival were the Fast Track grants winners which Film Independent selects and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation sponsors. The Fast Track program is an intensive, three-day film-financing market that connects participants with established financiers, production companies, agents, managers and other film industry professionals who can move their current projects forward. Filmmakers Logan Kibens and Felipe Dieppa’s Operator won the Sloan Fast Track Grant, a $15,000 production grant. In addition to participation in Fast Track, as part of the Sloan Foundation grant, the filmmakers will also receive year-round support from Film Independent.
This year marked a special collaboration with Funny Or Die for the Make ’em LAFF internet talent competition to discover content creators of color and underrepresented voices who specialize in comedy. The winner was selected by a jury comprised of Funny Or Die founder Chris Henchy, writer/producer/director Issa Rae (Awkward Black Girl) and comedians Hannibal Buress and Kumail Nanjiani. The winner is Suzi Yoonessi’s Olive and Mocha: Fast Times at Sugar High. Yoonessi will have her next video produced by Funny Or Die and receive a talent hold deal with a cash prize presented by Fox Audience Strategy. Under the deal, she will be presented across the Fox entertainment businesses.
Now in its 20th year, the Los Angeles Film Festival showcases diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision in new American and international cinema and is produced by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and Film Independent at LACMA Film Series. The 2014 Festival screened nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, representing 40 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Music in Film at The GRAMMY Museum, Master Classes supported by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and launching at this year’s festival is a special section called LA Muse focused on the city of Los Angeles as an inspiration for filmmakers and artists.
The Los Angeles Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday, June 11 with the North American premiere of Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer and will close tonight with Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys. Gala Screenings included Love is Strange, The Two Faces of January and Dear White People. The 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival Guest Director was Lisa Cholodenko; she was also the recipient of the inaugural Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. This year’s Spirit of Independence Award was bestowed upon Sony Pictures Classics’ Tom Bernard and Michael Barker.
The Los Angeles Film Festival is a qualifying festival in all categories for the Film Independent Spirit Awards and for the Narrative and Animated Short Film categories at the Academy Awards.
