BEIJING, July 6 -- Robert Cary's "Ira & Abby" won the audience award for best narrative feature at Sunday's closing-night ceremonies of the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF).

    The audience award for best documentary feature went to Jeff Werner and Susan Koch's ¡°Mario's Story.¡±

    A romantic comedy about a couple who marries impulsively, ¡°Ira & Abby¡± was written by Jennifer Westfeldt, who stars in the film opposite Chris Messina. Westfeldt also co-wrote and starred in ¡°Kissing Jessica Stein,¡± which won the audience award for best narrative feature at the 2001 LAFF.

    "Mario's Story" centers on Mario Rocha, a teenager from East Los Angeles. He was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he didn't commit, and the story is about his 10-year fight to secure freedom.

    The awards were presented Sunday by Christina Applegate at the Wadsworth Theater in West Los Angeles, where Fox Searchlight's "Little Miss Sunshine" screened as the closing-night film.

    The festival, organized by filmmaker-support organization Film Independent, bestowed its audience award for best international feature on Tomer Heymann's "Paper Dolls," an Israeli film about a group of gay Philippine immigrants who serve as caregivers to the elderly in Tel Aviv.

    The award for outstanding performance in the narrative competition went to the ensemble cast of Mike Akel's "Chalk," a comedy about high school teachers that stars Troy Schremmer and Janelle Schremmer.

    As announced June 28 at the fest's Spirit of Independence event, Steve Collins'"Gretchen" was the recipient of the Target Filmmaker Award for best narrative feature. Charlize Theron took the Spirit of Indepencence Award.


(Source: Shenzhen Daily)