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L.A. Film Fest awards Portugal's All Is Well and Mexico's Drought
The Portuguese film All Is Well by Pocas Pascoal won the jury prize for best narrative film and Everardo Gonzalez's Drought was awarded best documentary at the at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 24.
The Portuguese film All Is Well by Pocas Pascoal won the jury prize for best narrative film and Everardo Gonzalez's Drought was awarded best documentary at the at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 24.
All Is Well follows two sisters struggling to establish a new life in Lisbon after fleeing the Angolan civil war and Drought focuses on endangered cattle ranchers in Northeast Mexico. Both films will receive a $15,000 cash prize from Film Independent, which organized the festival.
"The winning films are wonderful examples of what the festival celebrates: bold, fresh, personal visions that expand the horizons of independent cinema," said artistic director David Ansen.
The audience chose Beasts Of The Southern Wild, a favorite at Sundance and Cannes, as best narrative. Directed by Benh Zeitlin, it tells the story of a young girl surviving after Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.
The audience award for best documentary was Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin And The Farm Midwives by co-directors Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore.
Closing the festival is the world premiere of Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConnaughey, which opens next weekend in North America and Russia, following in July and August in European countries and Australia.
An additional prize went to Malick Bendjelloul for Searching For Sugar Man, which received the audience award for best international feature. It tells the story of an American musician whose music made him a household name in South Africa during the anti-Apartheid movement while he remained in obscurity back home.
Watch the trailers:
Drought: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoF3M3Fb3b4
Beasts of the Southern Wild: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87eOdcf-0-k
Searching for Sugar Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXewWDh1og
http://www.lafilmfest.com/
