Film Fest Wraps With ‘Good Girl,’ Awards

The IFP/West-Los Angeles Film Festival wrapped its 10-day run Saturday with an awards luncheon and a closing night gala featuring Miguel Arteta’s dark comedy “The Good Girl,” starring Jennifer Aniston.

Przemyslaw Reut received the Target Filmmaker award for best narrative feature for “Paradox Lake,” his exploration of the world of autism. Reut’s $50,000 prize is the largest monetary award given by a major U.S. festival. “OT: Our Town,” Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary about the staging of a play at Compton’s Dominguez High School for the first time in 22 years, was awarded best documentary feature. Jeffrey Blitz’s “Spellbound,” the audience award winner for best documentary feature, also received a special jury prize for its depiction of the surprisingly fierce competition at the National Spelling Bee.

The best narrative feature audience award was won by Alfredo de Villa’s “Washington Heights.”

The Skyy Vodka short-film awards, presented as part of the festival this year, were awarded Thursday with the juried prizes going to “Cowhide” by Gerald Hustachi-Mathieu for best fiction short, “Salad Days” by Gustavo Salmeron for best cocktail moment short, and Dan Blank’s “Shadowplay” for best animated short. The audience award for best short film went to “No Dumb Questions” by Melissa Regan.