The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) is an annual film festival based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, founded by Kyrgyz filmmaker, Sadyk Sher-Niyaz in 2015. In its inaugural year, the festival ran from October 26 to November 2. Its awards are known as "Snow Leopard" awards.

Founding

Sher-Niyaz founded the festival in late 2014, after his own experience in running a campaign for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

(Oscars). Sher-Niyaz was the director of the Kyrgyz submission, '' Queen of the Mountains'' (''Kurmanjan Datka''), which according to ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' was predicted asone of the top 15 contenders. Sher-Niyaz told ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...

'' that he created the festival to help other Asian filmmakers in their Oscar campaigns: "I created the Asian World Film Festival to fill a void that I noticed was missing in America. There is a wealth of underrated filmmakers from our region that deserve recognition and this festival was designed to champion and promote them." The inaugural festival ran from October 26 to November 2, 2015, supported by media partners ''

''.

Board members

, the Asian World Film Festival board members comprise

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu (; born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, producer, and artist. Widely regarded as a trailblazer for Asian Americans in arts and entertainment, Asian American representation in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, she is t ...

Lisa Lu Lisa Lu Yan (born Lu Pingxiang; January 19, 1927) is a Chinese-American actress. She has worked extensively in Hong Kong, American, and mainland Chinese film and television since her debut in 1958. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times, ...

David Seidler David Seidler (4 August 1937 – 16 March 2024) was a British-American playwright and film and television writer. Seidler is most known for writing the scripts for the stage version and screen version for the story ''The King's Speech''. For ...

Jean-Marc Vallée Jean-Marc Vallée (March 9, 1963December 25, 2021) was a Canadian filmmaker, film editor, and screenwriter. After studying film at the Université de Montréal, Vallée went on to make a number of critically acclaimed short films, including '' ...

Joan Chen Joan Chen (simplified Chinese; 陈冲; born April 26, 1961) is an American actress and film director. She made her film debut in the Chinese film ''Youth'' (1977) before starring in the film (1979). She came to the attention of American audien ...

Janet Yang Janet Yang (born July 13, 1956) is an American film producer serving as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2021. Yang has been credited on films and television including '' The Joy Luck Club'', '' The People vs. ...

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

, Tabrez Noorani, and

Sergei Bodrov Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov ( rus, Серге́й Влади́мирович Бодро́в, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐˈdrof; born 28 June 1948) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2003 he was the president of the jury at the ...

"Snow Leopard" awards

The festival awards a number of awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Audience Award, Special Jury Award, Jury Discretionary Prize, Lifetime Achievement, Cinematic Legacy and Rising Star, which are prefixed by "Snow Leopard". In 2021, renowned Vietnamese-American Artist Sir Daniel K. Winn was commissioned to create a new Snow Leopard award which was first awarded at closing ceremonies of the 7th edition of the festival on November 6, 2021.

2020/2021 editions

In its postponed 6th edition in March 2021, nearly 40 films from over 20 countries were presented over six days. They included 11 Oscar submissions for Best International Feature Film (the name of the category having changed in 2020), and 12 which were submitted for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by Dick Clark Productions to reward theatrically-released feature film not in the English language. It was first introduced at the 7th Golden Globe Awards f ...

. '' Circus of Life'', by Pakistani director

Sarmad Sultan Khoosat Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (, born 7 May 1979) is a Pakistani actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Mainly known for his work as a director and actor in both cinema and television, Khoosat has directed the super-hit TV dramas ''Humsafar'' an ...

, won the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film, while '' Better Days'', by

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

director

Derek Tsang Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung (; born 8 November 1979) is a Hong Kong filmmaker and actor. The son of actor Eric Tsang, Tsang got his start in the Hong Kong film industry working for director Peter Chan after graduating from University of Toronto Sca ...

was awarded the Snow Leopard Special Jury Award. The 2021 festival (7th edition) is scheduled to run from 1–11 November 2021.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://asianworldfilmfest.org/ Film festivals in Los Angeles