Australian thriller One Less God has taken out the top two awards at Dances With Films Festival in Los Angeles. The independent Australian feature had it’s world premiere last Thursday 8th June in competition at the festival, at the iconic TCL Chinese 6 Theatres.
At the awards ceremony on Sunday night, One Less God was the first feature in the 20 year history of the festival to be honoured with both the Industry Choice Award and the Grand Jury Award. Over thirty members of the cast and crew made the trip to Los Angeles from Australia and India for the premiere, and to take part in the festival.
The jury’s comment for the Grand Jury Award: "There's an incredible amount of heart and humanity in One Less God. A film that teaches us we can and need to be better."
Inspired by the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, One Less God follows the harrowing events from the perspectives of both hostages and terrorists over the course of the devastating three-day siege in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel.
"I was so happy and honoured for One Less God to be recognised and win the Industry Choice award here at Dance With Films in Los Angeles. To then also win the Grand Jury prize has left the team and I on cloud nine.” says writer/director/producer Lliam Worthington. “The film was 8 years in the making, and it’s even more timely now. My goal was to create a film that would reveal the human heart and cost at the centre of the tragedy, but to also go beyond the news cycles, and inspire a genuine movement towards greater humanism and compassion. The response has been overwhelming, and we can’t wait to bring this film to audiences around the world."
Michael Trent Co-Founder – Dances With Films said: "One of the most masterful works that we've seen come out of the Australian independent scene, One Less God is powerfully relevant considering today's headlines and we are honored to have the opportunity of presenting it to the world."
Writer-director Lliam Worthington, producers Maren Smith and Joel Hagen, co-producer Nelson Lau, associate producer Georgina Veneziani and production designer Stephanie Todd, were joined by many members of their cast including: Joseph Mahler Taylor, Mihika Rao, SukhRaj Deepak, Kieran Kumar, Martelle Hammer, Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis, Igor Kreyman, Joseph JU Taylor, Quentin Yung, Nicole Fantl, Rhavin Banda and Kaliopi Eleni many of whom made their silver screen debuts.