Tribeca Film Festival 2012 Award Winners: 'War Witch,' 'Una Noche,' Win Top Prizes

The Tribeca Film Festival, the indie-focused fest in the melting pot of the world, lived up to its promise Thursday when it handed top prizes to three foreign-language films.

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War Witch, the Kim Nguyen-written and directed French and Lingala picture about a freed African child soldier who is forced to confront her past, took home the Founders Award for best narrative feature, while its nonprofessional star, Rachel Mwanza, took home the prize for best actress in a best narrative feature.

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Spanish-language feature Una Noche, written and directed by Lucy Mulloy, about three young Cubans contemplating fleeing the island country, won the award for best cinematography in a narrative feature film, while its co-stars Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nunez Florian, also nonpros, scored best actor in a narrative feature. Nunez Florian and their other co-star, Anailin de la Rua de la Torre, went missing in Miami during the festival. Mulloy took home best new director in a narrative feature for her debut film.

Best screenplay for a narrative feature went to Daniel Burman and Sergio Dubcovsky for All In, a Spanish-language romantic comedy about a professional poker player and his ex-wife. Jorge Drexler, an Oscar-winning songwriter, made his acting debut in the film.

The World Before Her, a film directed by Nisha Pahuja about women coming of age in India, took home best documentary feature. Jeroen van Velzen won best new documentary director for the Dutch film Wavumba.

In the shorts competition, Brian Buckley's Asad, about a fishing village in Somalia, took home best narrative short. Nadav Kurtz's Paraíso won best documentary short.