vA homegrown documentary film about an elderly couple has received the top prize in the Los Angeles Film Festival's competition section for documentary films, according to the festival's website.

Director Jin Mo-young won the Documentary Award for "My Love, Don't Cross That River" at the 21st edition of the festival Thursday. The film made its North American premier at the festival.

The film depicting the story of love and separation by death of an elderly couple attracted some 4.8 million viewers in South Korean theaters last year, a number considered to be a huge box-office success for an indie film.

Critics say the film has appealed to all generations with its true story of love between a 98-year-old man and a 89-year-old woman who have lived as a couple for 76 years.

"Few have noticed when I made the love of an elderly couple the subject of the film," Jin said through the film's domestic distributor, Daemyung Culture Factory Co. "I feel like my wish to reach as many viewers as possible beyond boundaries of my home country was realized."

Some 74 features and 60 shorts were screened during this year's film festival held from June 10-18 in Los Angeles.

Kim Jong-deok, minister of culture, sports and tourism, congratulated Jin on his award.

"Winning this award serves as a chance to have Korean directors' artistic creativity be firmly recognized and greatly increase the status of Korean films," the minister said in a congratulatory message to the filmmaker. (Yonhap)