MOVIES - Dec. 9, 1991

A Yen for Student Film: UCLA film student Carlos Avila has won Toyko’s Film Festival of International Cinema Students and a cash award of $178,000 (25 million yen). His winning film, “Distant Water,” is a coming-of-age story about a Mexican-American boy in Los Angeles in 1943. Avila wrote, produced and directed the film as his thesis for his 1991 graduate film degree from UCLA. He’ll use the prize money to fund his next film, which will premier at next year’s film student competition in Tokyo.