‘The Piano Lesson’ and ‘The Last Journey’ Land Top Audience Prizes at Newport Beach Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)

“The Piano Lesson” and “The Last Journey” took home top audience awards at the 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival. The 25th edition of the festival was held from Oct. 17-24, 2024, showcasing over 300 films from around the world.

“The Piano Lesson” from director Malcom Washington won the audience vote in the U.S. narrative category, while Filip Hammar & Frederick Wikingsson’s “The Last Journey” was honored by attendees for best international documentary.

During its eight days of programming, the festival held red carpet premieres, special events, live discussions and conversations with filmmakers, actors, and more.

This year’s honorees included Nicolas Cage (Icon Award), Bobby Cannavale (Artist of Distinction Award), Joan Chen (Career Achievement Award), Colman Domingo (Maverick Award) Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Artist of Distinction Awards), George MacKay (Spotlight Award), Margaret Qualley (Spotlight Award), June Squibb (Lifetime Achievement Award), Diane Warren (Lifetime Achievement in Music Award), as well as Colleen Atwood (Career Achievement in Costume Design), David Alan Grier and Wendi McLendon-Covey (Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Award), Laurent Bouzereau (Artist of Distinction for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking), Terry Crews (Arts Champion Award), Dave Holstein and Meg LeFauve (Artist of Distinction Award – Screenwriting), Jane Lynch (Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Award), Frank Marshall (Arts Champion Award), Ewan McGregor (TV Performance of the Year Award), Finneas O’Connell (Outstanding Achievement in Music Award), Arianne Phillips (Creative Visionary Award), Amy Poehler (Variety’s Legend & Groundbreaker Award), Peter Sarsgaard (Film Performance of the Year Award), Kiernan Shipka (Artist of Distinction Award) and Christoph Waltz (Icon Award).

The 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival also hosted Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch and 10 Cinematographers to Watch throughout the Festival. Additional highlights included the opening night film “Old Guy” and the closing night film “A Real Pain,” plus live conversations at the Festival Main Stage at Fashion Island in partnership with StyleWeekOC including Colleen Atwood, Carol Burnett, Bob Mackie, Arianne Phillips and Stassi Schroeder. Centerpiece films included “Blitz,” “Hard Truths,” “Nightbitch” and “The Piano Lesson.”

Films at the festival competed for audience, jury, and festival awards. See the full list of winners below.

Audience Awards
-Best U.S. Narrative: “The Piano Lesson” (Director Malcolm Washington)
-Best International Narrative: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Director Mohammad Rasoulo
-Best International Documentary: “The Last Journey” (Directors Filip Hammar & Frederick Wikingsson)
-Best U.S. Documentary: “Music by John Williams” (Director Laurent Bouzereauat)
-Best Animation: “Memoir of a Snail” (Director Adam Elliot)
-Best Comedy: “A Real Pain” (Director Jesse Eisenberg)
-Best Action Sports: “Shaping the Future” (Directors Robert Helphand & Tony Gentile)
-Best Art, Architecture + Design: “Sono Lino” (Director Jacob Patrick)
-Best Music: “I Need You: 53 Years of the Band America” (Directors Dustin Elm & David Breschel)
-Best Irish Feature: “Fidil Ghorm / The Blue Fiddle” (Director Anne McCabe)
-Best Short Narrative: “Scarlet” & “Hearts of Stone” (Tied)
-Best Short Documentary: “SoCal Snowy Owl”
-Best Short Animation: “Back to Normal”
-Best Art, Architecture, + Design Short: “Weree”
-Best Action Sport Short: “Motorcycle Mary”

Jury Awards
-Best Feature Narrative: “Mistura” (Director Ricardo de Montreuil)
-Best Feature Narrative Screenplay: “Mistura” (Director Ricardo de Montreuil)
-Best Feature Narrative Director: Matthew Rankin (“Universal Language”)
-Best Feature Narrative Cinematography: Frank van den Eeden (“Small Things Like These”)
-Best Feature Narrative Actor: John Leguizamo (“Bob Trevino Likes It”)
-Best Feature Narrative Actress: Barbara Mori (“Mistura”)
-Special Award- Best Feature Narrative Ensemble Cast: “Jazzy” (Director Morrisa Maltz)
-Best Documentary: “Housewife of the Year” (Director Ciaran Cassidy)
-Special Award- Exceptional Merit Documentary: “Porcelain War” (Directors Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev)
-Documentary Short: “A Swim Lesson”
-Narrative Short: “Calf”
-Animated Short: “Bottle George”

Festival Honors
-Outstanding Performance Female: Danielle Deadwyler (“The Piano Lesson”)
-Outstanding Performance Male: Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”)
-Outstanding Feature Narrative: “The Last Showgirl” (Director Gia Coppola)
-Outstanding Documentary: “The Donn of Tiki” (Directors Alex Lamb & Max Well)
-Outstanding International Feature Narrative: “Waves” (Director Jiří Mádl)
-Outstanding Musical Score: Hans Zimmer (“Blitz”)
-Outstanding Editing Feature: Hansjörg Weißbrich (“September 5”)
-Outstanding Animated Short: “One Happy Customer”
-Outstanding Action Sports Short: “Chasing Six Days | The Ride of a Lifetime”
-Outstanding Short Doc: “We Can Get There From Here”
-Outstanding Short Narrative: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse”