This year marks the 19th year of the fest, and it screened nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, representing more than 30 countries. Hit the jump for the full list of winners and be sure to check back throughout the week for continued coverage.
DIRECTV Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature)
Winner: Mother, I Love You directed by Janis Nords
Producer: Alise Gelze
Cast: Kristofers Konovalovs, Matiss Livcans, Vita Varpina, Indra Brike, Haralds Barzdins
Film Description: Like a lot of children, 12-year-old Raimonds has his quiet side, his talented side (he plays saxophone at a music school), a mischievous streak and a resourcefulness born of desperation. Often on his own while his single mom works, and routinely at odds with her when they do spend time together, Raimonds finds thrilling companionship in Peteris, a boy who steals money from one of the apartments his mother cleans. Raimond’s increasingly dangerous decisions will have thorny repercussions for him and those close to him. Latvia
The Narrative Award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $10,000 funded by DIRECTV, offering the financial means to help filmmakers transfer their vision to the screen. The award recognizes the finest narrative film in competition and is given to the director. A special jury selects the winner, and all narrative feature-length films screening in the Narrative Competition section were eligible.
In bestowing Janis Nords with the DIRECTV Narrative Award, the Jury stated:
“As filmmakers ourselves we are finely attuned to the processes of making a film and sometimes find it difficult not to analyze a film on a purely technical or esoteric level. In the case of our selected film, we found ourselves absorbed so completely in its world that we removed our critical eye. Its story is simple, deftly executed, and features a prodigious central performance. The careful escalation of dramatic tension, the truthful portrayal of a strained mother-son relationship, the stunning night time photography of an urban landscape and the confidant direction – never sacrificing substance for style – thoroughly won us over. It is with a deep appreciation for its delicacy, emotional resonance and assured control of craft that we award the Grand Prize to Mother, I Love You.”
DIRECTV Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature)
Winner: Code Black directed by Ryan McGarry
Producer: Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Film Description: Continually understaffed, under-budgeted and overrun with patients, public hospital ER waiting rooms are by definition seas of misery. The ER of the old L.A. County Hospital+USC Medical Center, which was the first academic Department of Emergency Medicine in the US was, by all accounts, a war zone.
Code Black follows a team of young, idealistic and energetic ER doctors during the transition from the old to the new L.A. County as they try to avoid burnout and improve patient care. Why do they persist, despite being under siege by rules, regulations and paperwork? As one doctor simply states, “More people have died on that square footage than any other location in the United States. On a brighter note, more people have been saved than in any other square footage in the United States.”
The Documentary Award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $10,000 funded by DIRECTV, offering the financial means to help filmmakers transfer their vision to the screen. The award recognizes the finest documentary film in competition, and is given to the director. A special jury selects the winner, and all documentary feature-length films screening in the Documentary Competition section were eligible.
In bestowing Ryan McGarry with the DIRECTV Documentary Award, the Jury stated:
“It’s unusual for a first-time filmmaker to integrate complex, multifaceted ideas so seamlessly into a visceral, action-packed and character-driven story that they end up creeping up on you, as if you’d thought of them all by yourself. With a strong point-of-view rooted in personal experience, and without judgment, this year’s winning film deftly disarms a hot-button political issue by reframing it as a human issue and shows us, instead of telling us, why we should care. Instead of rehashing familiar arguments, it drills down to find the universal in the specific. It’s heart warming, and also heart stopping. The winner of the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize is Code Black directed by Ryan McGarry.”
Best Performance in the Narrative Competition
Winner: Geetanjali Thapa in Kamar K.M’s I.D.
Film Description: The feature directorial debut from Indian filmmaker Kamal K.M. may be called I.D., but this drama has less to do with individual identity than it does our shared personal connection. A carefree young woman living in Mumbai named Charu is visited by a painter who’s been hired to do a touch-up to one of her apartment walls. But when the man falls unconscious, Charu discovers that she alone must attend to this stranger, first getting him to the hospital and then trying to discover who he is. India
In bestowing Geetanjali Thapa with the Best Performance Award, the Jury stated:
“The Narrative Competition Jury gives an award for Best Actor to the very talented Geetanjali Thapa for her portrayal of Chara in Kamal K.M.’sI.D. Thapa’s performance is recognized in part for her ability to win over the audience’s empathy for a character that initially lacks, indeed even resists, empathy. Rarely conversational, her ability to speak volumes with gesture and silence is a revelation to the audience. With an onscreen presence that commands attention, we see her rising star as something that excites us as filmmakers, and we are privileged to bear witness to the start of Thapa’s very promising career.”
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Winner: Short Term 12, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
