L-R: The One Less God team – Joel Hagen (producer), Georgina Veneziani (associate producer), Maren Smith (producer), Lliam Worthington (writer/director/producer), and Nelson Lau (co-producer/executive producer). (Photo: Joshua Belinfante)
Lliam Worthington’s indie feature One Less God has taken out both the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature and the Industry Choice Award at Los Angeles’ Dances With Films festival.
The film, which follows the events of the 2008 Mumbai attacks from both the perspective of the terrorists and victims, had its world premiere at the festival on June 8th, where it received a standing ovation. It was awarded the prizes at a ceremony on Sunday evening (LA time).
Directed and produced by Worthington, One Less God was filmed in the Blue Mountains and Nepal.
“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,” the director told IF.
“The film was eight 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.”
Dances With Films co-founder Michael Trent said One Less God was “one of the most masterful works that we’ve seen come out of the Australian independent scene.”
Worthington attended the festival with co-producer Nelson Lau, and producers Maren Smith and Joel Hagen, as well members of the crew and cast. Among them were Jospeh Mahler Taylor, Sukhraj Deepak, Rhavin Banda, Kaliopi Eleni, Mihika Rao, Kieran Kumar, Martelle Hammer, Igor Kreyman, Quentin Yung, Nicole Fantl, Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis and Joseph J U Taylor – for whom many of which One Less God was their feature debut.
One Less God is one of two Australian films slated for release this year about the Mumbai attacks, with Anthony Maras’ bigger budget Hotel Mumbai, starring Nazanin Boniadi and Dev Patel, expected to follow in the coming months.