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The drama America’s Family had a strong showing at the 25th annual Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles, claiming the Grand Jury Award for Features as well as the Audience Award for Competition Features when the fest wrapped on Sunday.

The film from writer-director Anike L. Tourse watches as the Diaz family home is raided by Ice on Thanksgiving, with mother Marisol (Tourse) being put in detention, son Koke (Ricardo Cisneros) being deported and father Jorge (Mauricio Mendoza) fleeing for protective sanctuary. Marisol and Jorge’s two American-born children—young attorney Emiliano (Emmanuel López Alonso) and his disabled teen sister Valentina (Jailene Arias)—then scramble to reunite the family as their parents and brother fight to get home.

Dwf is a festival celebrating the best of the best in independent film, which is based at the Tcl Chinese Theatre. It ran this year from June 9-19. Closing out...

The Los Angeles movie industry turns its attention to the next generation of cinematic storytellers this weekend. On Feb. 12, the inaugural Los Angeles Student Media Festival will showcase work from budding high school filmmakers. Twenty-six young finalists from throughout L.A. will debut their short-film projects to a theater-size audience. A panel of five industry professionals judged more than 100 films and handpicked the most artistically driven short pieces. Major film studios and television networks have taken notice of these fresh talents: Disney, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. are sponsoring the screening at Los Angeles Center Studios' Beaudry Theater. The finalists, representing 12 public and private schools, will receive a prize that countless aspiring directors seek: a foot in the Hollywood door. City Councilman Paul Krekorian created the Los Angeles Student Media Festival to provide a new opportunity for local teens. The former assistant majority leader of the state...