DISPATCH FROM LOS ANGELES | “Acne,” “Dream” Lead AFI Fest Winners

“Nirvana,” making its North American debut at the festival, is about a woman who leaves Moscow for St. Petersburg, hoping to escape her lonely existence and finding a world of drugs, sex and crime. An animated Voloshin was on hand to accept his award, which didn’t actually bear a trophy. “I guess you just get a hug,” Trachtenberg said to him as he took the stage.

“Thank you very much,” Voloshin said after he got his impromptu prize. “For me it’s important because a Russian film in a competition in Los Angeles… It’s a very important thing for Russian film. So I had a good time and thank you for much for festival times and sorry for my best English.”  The audience cheered as Voloshin then yelled out, “I give you big emotions! Thank you!”

The audience award for best narrative feature went to Daniel Stamm‘s “A Necessary Death.”  Stamm, an AFI graduate himself, partially shot the film in and around AFI campus. The film follows film students who use Craigslist to send out a call for a subject that is suicidal.

In the documentary category, the audience award resulted in a tie, with both Patrick Davidson‘s look at a group of international teenagers, “The World We Want” and Kief Davidson‘s “Kassim The Dream.”

“Kissim The Dream” director Kief Davidson and subject Kassim “The Dream” Ouma accept AFI’s Grand Jury Prize for documentary at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Photo by Peter Knegt.

“Dream,” a portrait of Kassim “The Dream” Ouma, also won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary. Ouma was on hand to accept the award with Davidson. “Kassim is the former Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World,” Davidson said as he introduced Ouma. “But Kassim was also kidnapped at the age of six. He was a child soldier in Uganda.  He represents hundreds of thousands of children that have been abducted and he’s one of the fortunate few that have made it out. But even the child solider that do find a way out, they are still dealing with trauma. And the film very much deals with that. He’s a brave man, I just want to thank him”

Jan Louter‘s “The Last Days of Shishmareff,” which looks at a small Alaskan village that is actually melting due to the global warmind, won the jury’s special mention in the documentary competition.

In the shorts competition,Lagan Sebert and Sandra Sampayo‘s “Busco Personas: The Faces of Columbia’s War” received the audience award, James Lees’ “The Apology Line” received a special mention from the jury, and the Grand Jury Prize for best short filmmaking went to Michel Lipkes’ “The Legless Boy Cannot Dance.”

The 2008 AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival officially concludes tonight with the World Premiere of Edward Zwick‘s “Defiance.”