The 168 Film Festival uncovers a big winner at the Alex Theatre

The 10th annual 168 Film Festival concluded two days of screenings of short films at Glendale’s Alex Theatre with a Saturday night awards ceremony. The festival is focused entirely on films 11 minutes or shorter that tell contemporary stories based on themes from the Bible. In the competition, each filmmaking team is assigned a theme at random and given 10 days for pre-production and 168 hours to create and deliver the finished film.

Among the panel of seven judges this year was Howard Kazanjian, former vice president at LucasFilm and a producer on “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Return of the Jedi.” With awards in 25 categories, the weekend’s big winner was “Refuge,” which took top honors in acting, directing, cinematography and “Best Film.” The subtitled film is a drama with an Iraqi cast, as a husband discovers the violent past of a neighbor.

Here is a partial list of winners:

Best Film: “Refuge,” Paul Luebbers, Joel VanderSpek

Best Comedy: “Take a Hike,” Mark Blitch, Todd Terry

Best International Film: “Ghosts of Europe,” Jesse Hutch, Jamie Rauch

Best Documentary: “Changed on the Inside,” Steve Puffenberger

Best Director: “Refuge,” Michelle Steffes

Best Actress: “Static,” Morgan Alana Taylor

Best Actor: “Refuge,” Stevin Knight

Best Supporting Actor: “Refuge,” Iyad Hajjaj

Best Supporting Actress: “Coerced,” Goldie Hoffman

Best Screenplay Drama: “Refuge,” Rebekah Score

Best Screenplay Comedy: “Take a Hike,” Mark Blitch

Best Cinematography: “Refuge,” Brandon Lippard

Best Editor: “Refuge,” Chris Witt

Best Sound Design: “Shaken,” Brandon Griffith

Best Original Score: “Inink,” Jordan Critz

Best Animated Film: “Dragon Season,” Michael Mitchell

For more information, see www.168project.com.