Meet the Patels, a real-life romantic comedy  in which one man’s search for his dream woman becomes a family affair, won the Best Documentary Feature Audience Award at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Directed by siblings Ravi Patel and Geeta Patel, this spirited and uplifting documentary comes to you  from Producer Janet Eckholm (AMERICAN SPLENDOR) and Academy Award Winning Executive Producer Geralyn Dreyfous (BORN INTO BROTHELS/THE SQUARE) and PBS.

Among the eight films competing in the documentary section, the jury opted for Stray Dog, a character study by director Debra Granik, while the audience chose Meet the Patels, which traces the journey of Los Angeles-based Indian American actor Ravi Patel and the aftermath, when he allows his parents to help him choose an ideal Indian bride.

The awards were announced June 19 at LA Live before the LAFF’s closing night screening of Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys.

Meet the Patels began as an amateur family vacation video that eventually became a unique blend of animation combined with real events, filmed by Geeta, revolving around the Patel family — Ravi, his sister Geeta, and their parents.

After breaking up with his American girlfriend, the almost-30-year-old Ravi goes to India on a family holiday. Noticing how happy the marriages are of his family and friends, Ravi enlists the help of his matchmaker mother, advice-spouting father and his camera-crazy sister, who follows him around everywhere to find his perfect life partner.

In early 2009, Geeta and Ravi began to explore the societal pressures of marriage in their first-generation Indian American family. Through the documentary, they raise questions such as: What is love? How do we find it? And once we find it, how do we keep it?

Meet the Patels was inspired by Ravi’s stand-up comedy show on the Indian American system of marriage and the struggles that first-generation immigrant families face. Along with acting in projects like Scrubs,Transformers and Powder Blue, he has donned many hats in showbiz, including director, writer and editor of this documentary.

The film will also be screened at the Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan to be held from July 29 to August 3, as well as the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival in Mississauga, Canada August 10.