Jeffrey St. Jules‘ debut feature Bang Bang Baby has won the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The award is presented to a unique independent feature that was made outside of mainstream Hollywood. The winner receives a Panavision camera package worth $60,000. The festival winners were unveiled on Saturday.

The judging panel for the festival included director and cinematographer Will Eubank, producer Chas Ebert, director Peter Chelsom, composer/lyricist Adam Guettel, actor James Read, producer Mimi deGruy, actors Anthony and Arnette Zerbe and festival founder Phyllis de Picciotto. Eubank and Read were the judges for the Panavision Spirit Award.

Bang Bang Baby had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past fall, where it won the Best Canadian First Feature prize. The first effort from the Montreal-born St. Jules also won the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s  2015 Claude Jutra Award, which recognizes  an outstanding debut from a first-time filmmaker.

Bang Bang Baby stars Jane Levy, Justin Chatwin and Peter Stormare. The film is produced by Daniel Bekerman, Jonathan Bronfman and Don Allan.