iW NEWS | "Munyurangabo," "Afghan Muscles" and "Operation Filmmaker" Among Top AFI Fest Winners

Lee Isaac Chung's story of a Rwandan orphan who travels from Kigali to the countryside on a quest for justice, "Munyurangabo" won the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival's grand jury prize for best feature Sunday afternoon. "Afghan Muscles" by Andreas Dalsgaard and "Operation Filmmaker" by Nina Davenport shared the best documentary prize. Also taking nods at AFI Fest were "Spider," which won best short and "I Met the Walrus," which received best animated short. In audience prizes, Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" won best feature and Jeffrey Schwarz's "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story" took best doc. "Kids + Money" received the audience prize for short and "Heckler" director Michael Addis won the festival's Audi "Truth in Art" competition. The three Jury Award winners each receive a $5000 prize of Eastman Kodak Motion Picture Film stock & Entertainment Partners Budgeting and Scheduling software package. The three Audience Award winners receive an AVID Technology Suite & Entertainment Partners Budgeting and Scheduling software package. "As with the all of the films we had at AFI FEST this year, the films in the competitive categories included really accomplished and inspired work from a diverse group of talented filmmakers," commented AFI Fest Artistic Director Rose Kuo in a statement. "I know the members of our jury had a particularly difficult time singling out one film." [Brian Brooks]