Los Angeles Film Festival Unveils Winners

Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Daniel Powell’s Becks, inspired by the life of singer-songwriter Alyssa Robbins, took home the U.S. Fiction Award, and Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp’s Liyana, which focuses on a group of orphaned children in Swaziland, claimed the Documentary Award as jury prizes were announced at the Los Angeles Film Festival, which concluded Thursday.

Audience Awards were presented to Karen Moncrieff’s The Keeping Hours, named best fiction feature film, and to Mark Hayes’ Skid Row Marathon for best documentary feature. The latter, a film about a running club organized by Los Angeles Superior Court judge Craig Mitchell, also won the documentary prize in the LA Muse sidebar, while the LA Muse Fiction Award went to Savannah Bloch’s And Then There Was Eve.

The festival, presented by Film Independent, also presented its Spirit of Independence Award to helmer Miguel Arteta, whose new film Beatriz at Dinner has just opened in theaters and who also served as the fest’s guest director.

The complete list of winners follows:

U.S. Fiction Award
Becks, directed by Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Daniel Powell

U.S. Fiction Cinematography Award
Everything Beautiful Is Far Away, cinematography by Christian Sorensen Hansen and Pete Ohs? 

Special Mention for Breakout Performance
Auden Thornton of Beauty Mark

Special Mention for Directing
Bruce Thierry Cheung of Don’t Come Back From the Moon

World Fiction Award
The Night Guard (El Vigilante), directed by Diego Ros

Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling
On the Beach at Night Alone (Bamui Hae-Byun-Eoseo Honja), directed by Hong Sangsoo

Documentary Award
Liyana, directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp

LA Muse Fiction Award
And Then There Was Eve, directed by Savannah Bloch

LA Muse Documentary Award
Skid Row Marathon, directed by Mark Hayes

Special Mention for Acting
John Carroll Lynch of Anything

Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling
The Classic, directed by Billy McMillin

Nightfall Award
Serpent, directed by Amanda Evans

Special Mention for Acting
Kate Nhung of The Housemaid

Award for Short Film?
A Funeral for Lightning, directed by Emily Kai Bock

Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling
Balloonfest, directed by Nathan Truesdell

Award for Documentary Short
Black America Again, directed by Bradford Young

Audience Award for Fiction Feature Film
The Keeping Hours, directed by Karen Moncrieff

Audience Award for Documentary Feature Film?
Skid Row Marathon, directed by Mark Hayes

Audience Award for Short Film
Swim, directed by Mari Walker

Audience Award for Web-Series
High & Mighty, directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada