Grass Valley filmmaker Lou Douros scored an award in his first shot at making a documentary.

Douros' short film, “In the Wake of Giants,” won the award for Best National Marine Sanctuary Short at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, organizers said.

The 16-minute film showcases the efforts of rescuers in the waters off Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary as they perform risky maneuvers to free the giant creatures from trash they encounter during their annual migration from Alaska. It premiered last weekend in Monterey.

“We didn't know we'd won until they announced the film's name at the awards ceremony,” Douros said. “We were there to see how we stacked up against the other films, and we did pretty well.”

Douros worked on the film with son Blaise, a 25-year-old Nevada Union High School graduate, who wrote the musical score. His company, Akua Films, entered two other categories in the film festival: Best original score and emerging underwater filmmaker.

“I think the audience really responded” to his musical collaboration with Blaise, Douros said.

“When the contestants for best score were announced, we got a huge cheer for the film's trailer,” he said, but Disney's epic documentary, “Oceans,” won in that category.

“We really were in the wake of giants for that one,” Douros said.

The film may be entered into Nevada City's Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, which runs in January, he said.

“We got to do a little networking in Monterey,” Douros said. “We were approached to maybe begin working on a series of one-hour documentaries taking a look at other stories out there like this one.”

To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4239.