LAFF 2015: ‘Out of My Hand,’ ‘Don’t Cross That River’ win top prizes

A drama about a Liberian plantation worker beginning a new life in New York City and a documentary about a Korean couple who have been married for 76 years claimed the top prizes at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Wednesday.

Takeshi Fukunaga’s “Out of My Hand” took home the U.S. Fiction award, and Mo-Young Jin’s “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” won the Documentary Award. Both films made their North American premieres at the fest, which concludes Thursday.

Beata Gardeler’s “Flocken” won the World Fiction Award (dedicated to international cinema), Delila Vallot’s “Can You Dig This” won the L.A. Muse Award (for work created about or in Los Angeles), Viet Nguyen’s “Crush the Skull” won the Nightfall Award (for genre film), and Bradley Kaplan’s “Stealing Cars” won the Zeitgeist Award (for films representing key trends).

Audience Awards were given to Michael Dwyer and Kaitlin McLaughlin’s narrative film “Pocha (Manifest Destiny)” and two documentaries (in a tie): Natalie Johns’ “I Am Thalente” and Lilibet Foster’s “Be Here Now.”

A full list of winners will be posted on the festival website.

The LAFF, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, will wrap up Thursday evening with screenings of several of the winning films and a live reading of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” directed by Eli Roth.

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