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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 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 This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

category at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

(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 website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...

'' 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 is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has star ...

Lisa Lu Lisa Lu Yan (; born January 19, 1927) is a Chinese actress. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times in the 1970s. She is the only person who is a member of both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts ...

David Seidler David Seidler (born 1937) is a British-American playwright and film and television writer. He is most known for writing the scripts for the stage version and screen version for the story ''The King's Speech''. For the film, he won the Academy ...

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 (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

Janet Yang Janet Yang (born July 13, 1956) is a Hollywood producer and current President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Yang's award-winning film and TV credits include '' The Joy Luck Club'', ''The People vs. Larry Flynt'', ''Dark M ...

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 '' Yell ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

, Tabrez Noorani, and

Sergei Bodrov Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov ( rus, Серге́й Влади́мирович Бодро́в, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐˈdrof; born June 28, 1948) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2003 he was the President of the Jury at the 2 ...

"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 6th, 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 the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

. ''

Circus of Life ''Circus of Life'' (German: ''Zirkus des Lebens'') is a 1921 German silent drama film directed by Johannes Guter and starring Werner Krauss, Lydia Potechina and Rudolf Klein-Rogge.Hardt p.64 The film's sets were designed by the art director H ...

'', by Pakistani director

Sarmad Sultan Khoosat Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (born May 7, 1979) is a Pakistani actor, film/ TV director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing the super-hit TV dramas ''Humsafar'' and ''Shehr-e-Zaat''. He is considered to be one of the best South Asian f ...

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

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

director

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

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, https://asianworldfilmfest.org/ Film festivals in Los Angeles