Michael Burke's TheMudge Boy won the OUTstandingAmerican Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award and Jacques Nolot's PornTheatre (La Chatte A Deux Tetes) took top honours for international feature at LAgay and lesbian film festival Outfest 2003, which closed last night with ascreening of Mambo Italiano.

In other Grand Jury Awardwinners at Sunday's (20) awards ceremony, Josh Aronson's TheOpposite Sex, Rene's Story claimed the documentary prize and Richard Day'sGirls Will Be Girls won forscreenwriting.

Jack Plotnick, Clinton Leuppand Jeffery Roberson tied in the best actor stakes for Girls Will Be Girls while Olympia Dukakis took actress honours for TheEvent.

In the Audience Awards, CJay Cox's Latter Days won a$5,000 cash prize from HBO for the best first narrative feature and LizGill's Goldfish Memory wonbest feature.

The Audience Award for bestdocumentary was a tie between Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer's BrotherOutsider: The Life Of Bayard Rustinand Andrea Meyerson's Laughing Matters. Short films favoured by the audience were AngelaRobinson's DEBS (narrative)and Tricia Cooke and Jennifer Arnold's Where The Girls Are (documentary).

In three special programmingawards, Remi Lange took the Freedom Award for Tarik El Hob (The Path Of Love), Tracy Flannigan took the Emerging Talent prize forRise Above: The Tribe 8 Documentary,and Pat O'Neill's Decay Of Fiction earned the Artistic Achievement award.

The Los Angeles closingceremony preceded a screening of Alex Steyermark's Prey For Rock &Roll, which will be released throughMac Releasing later this year.

Stephen Gutwillig, thefestival's executive director, said this year's event drew a record42,000-plus attendees.

'We had perhaps thehighest calibre of programmed films in years, as evidenced by the numerous soldout showings, great reviews and rapturous, whole-hearted enthusiasm, allbundled in an exuberant, lively atmosphere. It's been a great, 12-dayparty,' Gutwillig said in a statement.