Dances With Films LA 2024: Top Indie Fest Wraps Up with Exciting Filmmaker Awards Announcement
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Dances With Films: LA announced its Filmmaker Award winners during a jubilant celebration at The TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood following the 27th edition of Los Angeles’ leading indie film festival. The Grand Jury Prize winners were led by Michael Groom’s Between the Lights (Best Narrative Feature) and Leon Lozano’s A Little Hope For Chicago. Heading the list of Audience Choice winners were Ori Yardeni and Emil Ben Shimon’s The Man Who Saved the Internet With a Sunflower (Best Narrative Feature), and Rebecca Corry’s Saving Jones (Best Documentary Feature).
DWF’s coveted Industry Choice Awards went to Matthew Leutwyler’s Fight Like A Girl in the “Over 40 Minutes” category, and Peter Decherney’s Is It Because I’m A Girl in the “Under 40 Minutes” category.
Dances With Films’ Founders Leslee Scallon and Michael Trent, said “In our 27th year, we were struck by the awareness of how our DWF filmmaker family continues to grow exponentially with such an amazingly diverse array of talented artists. As this film festival continues to be dedicated to the mission of supporting them with a singular focus on celebrating and promoting truly independently produced films and projects, we also continue to be humbled seeing all of them form such a tight-knit community too.”
Additional Audience Choice Award winners were Devin Lawrence’s The Disinvited (Fusion Feature), Christian Klein’s Bed By 9 (Downbeat), K.D. Chalk’s Survived By (Dances With Kidz Pro), and Reece Melber and Rachel Othon’s Exposed (Pilots). In the Short Film categories, Audience Choice Awards went to Craig Newman’s I Approve This Message (Narrative), Samantha Ramirez-Herrera’s El Regreso (Documentary), and Daniel Rashid’s Puppy Love (Fusion).
A new edition to Dances With Films this year was the Fever Pitch Short Script Challenge, which was won by Sean Cage’s pitch for his project “Judas Kiss”. Runner-ups in the competition were Antjuan Ward’s “In The Pocket”, and Ed Lawrence Robinson’s “Merry Christmas, Colonel Shoup”. Cage received $500 for his winning pitch, while Ward and Robinson will each receive $250. In the Grand Jury Prize competitions, Honorable Mentions went to Jack McCafferty’s Dreaming of You, and Brendan Boogie’s Tallywacker (Narrative), as well as Bill Guttentag’s Spyral (Documentary).
The DWF: LA’s lineup of 232 films, included 117 making world, international, North American, or U.S. premieres in the heart of Hollywood. Three films (Etana Jacobsen’s Advanced Chemistry, Haroula Rose’s All Happy Families, and Verner Maldonado’s Best Man Dead Man) announced distribution deals during the film festival.
Bookended by full house Gala screenings of Mahesh Pailoor’s Paper Flowers (Opening Night) and Terre Weisman’s Max Dagan (Closing Night), Dances With Films: LA kept both the theaters and the Chinese Theater’s lobby filled and hopping with filmmakers and film fans including seven Orange Carpet events over the film festival’s ten days of screenings and panels. In addition to the award winners, crowd pleasers included Patrick VanZandt’s Addy Daddy, Nayip Ramos’ Almost Popular, Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez’s America’s Next Top Immigrant, Stanley Wong’s Future Date, and Jean Barker’s Nobody Leaves ’til Jesus Comes. Additional crowd favorites among the documentaries included Alex Lamb and Max Well’s The Donn of Tiki, and Razieme Iborra’s How the West Was One. Iborra arrived at The Chinese Theater on horseback, making an entrance unmatched by any other filmmaker.
Dances With Films will next return for its 3rd New York City edition in December. For more information about Dances With Films, please go to: https://danceswithfilms.com/.
The 2024 Dances With Films LA Filmmaker Award Winners:
GRAND JURY – NARRATIVE FEATURES
BETWEEN THE LIGHTS
Director/Writer: Michael Groom
Producers: David Groom, Michael Groom
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
DREAMING OF YOU
Director/Writer: Jack McCafferty
Producers: Bridgett Greenberg, Jack McCafferty
TALLYWACKER
Director/Writer: Brendan Boogie
Producers: Jeremy Dubs, Chris Goodwin, Brendan Boogie
GRAND JURY – DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
A LITTLE HOPE FOR CHICAGO
Director: Leon Lozano
Writers: Kevin Nichols, Leon Lozano
Producers: Garrett E.B. Thompson, Kevin Nichols, Leon Lozano
HONORABLE MENTION:
SPYRAL
Director/Writer: Bill Guttentag
Producer: Jennifer Hutchins
GRAND JURY PRIZE – NARRATIVE SHORTS
BLACK SILK
Director/Writer: Patrick Michael
Producers: Patrick Michael, Josh Akin, Tiffany Gist Samuel Skeen
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
KOI
Director/Writer: Taige Shi
Producer: Tianyu Yang
THE RUNT
Director/Writer: Christy Stratton
Story by: Christy Stratton, Mark Norberg
Producers: Katrina Rotondo, Daniela Inés Calvo and Christy Stratton
INDUSTRY CHOICE AWARDS (UNDER 40′)
IS IT BECAUSE I’M A GIRL
Director: Peter Decherney
Producer: Peter Gitau
INDUSTRY CHOICE AWARDS (OVER 40′)
FIGHT LIKE A GIRL
Director/Writer: Matthew Leutwyler
Producers: Anton Laines, Innocent Munyeshuri, Yvette Gayle Serge Ibaka
FEVER PITCH CHALLENGE
WINNER: JUDAS KISS by Sean Cage
RUNNER UP (TIE)
IN THE POCKET by Antjuan Ward
MERRY CHRISTMAS, COLONEL SHOUP by Ed Lawrence Robinson
COMPETITION (NARRATIVE) FEATURE AUDIENCE AWARD
THE MAN WHO SAVED THE INTERNET WITH A SUNFLOWER
Directors: Ori Yardeni, Emil Ben Shimon
Writers: Oren Safdie, Izhar Har-Lev, Ori Yardeni
Producers: Kobi Hoffmann, Zehava Shekel
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AUDIENCE AWARD
SAVING JONES
Director/Writer: Rebecca Corry
Producer: Stand Up For Pits Foundation with Angel Forever
FUSION FEATURE AUDIENCE AWARD
THE DISINVITED
Director: Devin Lawrence
Writers: Devin Lawrence, Matthew Mourgides
Producer: Matthew Mourgides
DOWNBEAT AUDIENCE AWARD
BED BY 9
Director: Christian Klein
Writer: Max Castillo
Producer: Olivia Isabel Comas
DANCES WITH KIDZ PRO AUDIENCE AWARD
SURVIVED BY
Director/Writer: K.D. Chalk
Producers: Nicole Crespo, Pinar Binay
PILOTS AUDIENCE AWARD
EXPOSED
Directors: Reece Melber, Rachel Othon
Writer: Hannah Merritt
Producer: Sina Crenshaw
COMPETITION (NARRATIVE) SHORTS AUDIENCE AWARD
I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE
Director: Craig Newman
Writer: Michael Barringer
Producers: Craig Newman, Michael Barringer
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS AUDIENCE AWARD
EL REGRESO
Director: Samantha Ramirez-Hererra
Producer: Sam Bathrick
FUSION SHORTS AUDIENCE AWARD
PUPPY LOVE
Director: Daniel Rashid
Writers: Daniel Rashid, Elizabeth Valenti
Producers: Reilly Anspaugh, Daniel Rashid, Elizabeth Valenti
ABOUT DANCES WITH FILMS
Now in its 27th year, Dances With Films champions the unflinching spirit at the very core of the independent film scene. With most film festivals relying heavily on celebrity, DWF have relied on innovation, talent, creativity, and sweat equity that revolutionized the entertainment industry. And that reliance continues to prove successful with alumni moving on to write, direct, and produce celebrity-studded vehicles, star in blockbuster movies, and television series, produce multi-million-dollar film and create hot TV shows.
