Acclaimed indie movies Fish Tank and Woman Without Piano shared the inaugural New Lights Award at the American Film Institute Festival in Hollywood on Thursday (05Nov09).

The winners were announced at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel following the closing night gala screening of Tom Ford’s A Single Man.The New Lights competition was created to acknowledge and honour vital, groundbreaking films by first and second time feature filmmakers from around the world.Andrea Arnold was honoured for Fish Tank, while Javier Rebello was the brains behind Woman Without Piano.A Special Jury Mention went to Scandar Copti’s and Yaron Shani’s Ajami.The awards were presented by actress Angela Bassett, who chaired the jury.