Collins, Berg take fest’s top honors

The Los Angeles Film Festival bestowed top honors on writer-director Steve Collins and documentary filmmaker Amy Berg on Wednesday night.

Collins won for his narrative feature “Gretchen,” a coming-of-age drama about a 17-year-old girl with boy problems, while Berg’s “Deliver Us From Evil” delves into the ways the Catholic Church -- and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony -- responded to a pedophile priest in its midst.

Both awards carry a $50,000 cash prize from Target. They were announced at the festival’s Spirit of Independence event honoring Charlize Theron.