SHORT FILM AND OTHER AWARDS ANNOUNCED

LOS ANGELES– Film Independent announced the winners for the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival at its Closing Night ceremonies on Sunday, July 1. The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Stephane Gauger’s Owl and the Sparrow.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Greg Whiteley for Resolved.

 Stephen Walker’s Young @ Heart won the Audience Award for Best International Feature.

The award for Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition went to the ensemble cast of Chris Eska’s August Evening, which includes principal cast members Pedro Castaneda, Veronica Loren, Abel Becerra, Walter Perez, Sandra Rios, and Cesar Flores. Given to an actor or actors from an official selection in the Narrative Competition, this is the fourth year the award has been given out at the Festival.

The award for Best Narrative Short Film went to Radu Jude’s The Tube with a Hat.

The award for Best Documentary Short Film went to David Fenster’s Wood.

Fredrik Emilson’s Love and War won the award for Best Animated/Experimental Short Film.

The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Dee Rees’ Pariah.

Joseph Kahn’s Knights of Cydonia won the Audience Award for Best Music Video for the band, Muse.

As previously announced at the Festival’s Spirit of Independence event on Thursday, June 28, the Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature) went to Chris Eska for August Evening.

The winner of the Target Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature) went to Jennifer Venditti for Billy the Kid. Each award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target.

The Narrative Feature Competition jury was comprised of Karyn Kusama, Rob Nelson, and Tom Quinn.  The Documentary Competition jury was comprised of Patrick Creadon, Rob Epstein, and Lisa Schwarzbaum.

This year the Festival received more than 4,500 submissions from filmmakers around the world with the final selections representing several World, North American, and U.S. premieres. More than 260 films and music videos screened at this year’s Festival.