- 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival Winner A Family - Image by Image Net
After handing out awards to this year's film festival winners, the Los Angeles Film Festival closed on June 27, 2010. Danish movie En Familie (A Family) and documentary Make Believe took home the top prizes.
The Narrative Award, which recognises the best narrative movie in competition at the film festival, was presented to A Family (En Familie). The Los Angeles Film Festival jury, which comprised director Charles Burnett, screenwriter/producer Larry Karaszewski and LA Weekly film critic Ella Taylor, said of its decision:
“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.”
The Danish domestic drama won the FIPRECSI Best Picture award at the Berlinale Film Festival, where it premiered earlier this year.
Magical Movie Enchants Documentary Award Jury
The Documentary Award jury, made up of director/actress Karen Moncrief, director Arthur Dong and film critic and journalist Robert Abele, selected director J. Clay Tweel’s charming movie Make Believe as the winning entry
Focusing on teenage magicians from America, Japan and South Africa, Make Believe follows this curious and talented group of young people as they prepare for the major World Magic Seminar competition in Las Vegas.
Both film festival awards carry a cash prize of $50,000.
Best Ensemble Performance Winner
The Best Ensemble Performance award went this year to Sabrina Lloyd, James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Harry Chase, Nate Smith and Kamel Boutros for their performance in Adam Reid’s Hello Lonesome, a wry romantic comedy about six lonely individuals looking for and finding love in unlikely places.
Other LA Film Festival Winners
Also winning awards in LA were Pablo Larcuen for My Invisible Friend (Best Narrative Short Film); Tomasz Wolski for The Lucky One (Best Documentary Short Film); and Beomsik Shimbe Shim for Wonder Hospital(Best Animated Short Film).
Audience Award Winners
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was given to Four Lions. Labeled ‘a comedy of terrors’, this black satire from Christopher Morris tackles modern jihadism through the eyes of four bumbling would-be suicide bombers.
Taking home the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature was Thunder Soul (Mark Landsman), about the Kashmere Stage Band, a musical sensation in the 1970s that reunites 35 years later.
World Premiere of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Los Angeles Film Festival is now in its 16th year. The 2010 edition screened 200 features, shorts and music videos from more than 40 countries. Among the big names in the line-up, which did not go on to win any film festival awards, were The Kids Are All Right, an all-star vehicle featuring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo; Revolución, a ‘compilation’ of short films by 10 Mexican filmmakers; and the highly anticipated world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
