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L.A. honors 'Wackness,' 'Wire'

Films take top audience awards at festival

By DAVE MCNARY

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Jonathan Levine's "The Wackness" and James Marsh's "Man on a Wire" have taken the top audience awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Kudos were announced at Sunday night's awards ceremonies at the close of the 11-day event.

Levine won the audience award for narrative feature directing for "The Wackness," starring Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-Kate Olsen, Method Man and Jane Adams.

Marsh took the audience award for foreign feature for directing "Man on a Wire," the story of the French acrobat who walked a tightrope between the twin towers at the World Trade Center in 1974.

Jennifer Lawrence won the trophy for outstanding performance in the narrative competition for her work in Lori Petty's directorial debut "The Poker House."

The audience award for documentary went to Sacha Gervasi for "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" about the Canadian heavy metal band. Award for narrative short film went to Alice Wincour's "Magic Paris." Documentary short film award went to Eva Weber's "City of Cranes," while the short film kudo was given to Darren Thornton's "Frankie."

The Target Filmmaker award for narrative feature went to Sean Baker for directing "Prince of Broadway," centered on immigrants in New York's Garment District. The Target documentary award went to Darius Marder for "Loot." The documentary jury also gave a special commendation to Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker for "Pressure Cooker."