The AMC Broadway 4 movie theater on the Third Street Promenade shared its space on Feb. 3 between typical releases and special screenings for the 2024 Santa Monica International Film Festival.
The two theaters for the festival were packed throughout the day and into the evening, where several films walked out with awards recognition. The Ryan Moore-directed Influence, depicting a filmmaker kidnapping a famous social media influencer, took home the Best Narrative Feature award.
On top of the film award, Influence star Cheyenne Perez won for Best Performance. Other awards handed out included Best Comedy for Trundle and the Lost Borscht of Atlantis, Best Drama for Rochelles and Best Experimental Film for This Body Is A Shell.
Festival founder David Katz, who grew up and attended school in both Malibu and Santa Monica, was proud of all of the day’s selections.
"It is such an honor to spend my life watching films and being able to put together … some very diverse, unique programming that we put in this year’s festival.
"We hope that everybody could see the high production value, the high quality, the great decisions filmmakers have made, and the choices that they [made] to get a project [done] that no one else would [do]," Katz said during the ceremony.
thomas@smdp.com
