UPDATE: Local Filmmaker Nabs Award at Festival

UPDATE: April 26, 9 a.m.: Little Neck filmmaker Elana Mugdan has taken home her second award in a month after winning the Indie Spirit Special Recognition Award last weekend at the Boston International Film Festival for her debut feature, "Director's Cut."

It’s been a busy year for Elana Mugdan. The Little Neck filmmaker has debuted two movies since December, including a short film and her feature debut.

This past weekend, her feature “Director’s Cut” took the Director’s Choice award at the Litchfield Hills Film Festival in Connecticut.

“It was very unexpected,” Mugdan said. “When I actually got to the festival and saw the caliber of films we were up against, I didn’t think we were going to win anything. It was surprising to me and a great honor.”

The film, which debuted in December at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, is autobiographical and draws upon the films that Mugdan shot as a child with a home video camera.

On Friday, the movie will debut at the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Palo Alto Springs and, on Saturday, it will screen at the Boston International Film Festival.

Mugdan said she has been approached by an agent from Beverly Hills who is interested in helping her to approach distribution companies.

“We’ve generated some interest,” she said. “The plan is to run the festival circuit a little longer and see if we get into any more. Ultimately, I hope that we gain enough recognition to get distribution.”

In early March, Mugdan premiered “To Live For,” an 18-minute film shot in Douglaston, Little Neck and Great Neck, at the Tribeca Gran Hotel’s screening room as part of a series known as “After-Set Short Films.”

In May, Mugdan will shoot a trailer for a feature science fiction film and, later this summer, she hopes to begin work on “Amygdala,” a horror movie.