The 44th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF44) has unveiled the award winners for this years fest including KEFF’s Taipei Suicide Story as well as Wei Deng’s Father. AAIFF44 took place from Aug. 11-22.
AAIFF44 celebrated storytelling by the AAPI community with 102 feature and short films, in-person events such as Comedy Night Out and Music Video Showcase, as well as in-person and livestreamed panels including Americanish: A Case Study in American-Muslim Representation, 35 Years of Taipei Stories, and A Paradise Lost: Hollywood’s Effect on Hawai’i. 13 jury prize award winners were determined by leading industry professionals.
Read the full list of nominees, winners and jurors below. Winners are in bold.
EMERGING DIRECTOR – NARRATIVE FEATURE
- TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY, dir. KEFF – Taiwan
- INBETWEEN GIRL, dir. Mei Makino – USA
- WAIKIKI, dir. Chris Kahunahana – Hawai’i
EMERGING DIRECTOR – DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- FATHER, dir. Wei Deng – China
- BOOKMARK 14, dir. Ryo Takebayashi – Japan
- CANE FIRE, dir. Anthony Banua-Simon – USA
EXCELLENCE IN SHORT FILMMAKING – NARRATIVE
- APART, TOGETHER, dir. Olivia Hang Zhou – USA
- LEARNING TAGALOG WITH KAYLA, dir. Kayla Abuda Galang – USA
- LITTLE SKY – dir. Jess X. Snow – USA
- MAGIC KINGDOM, dir. Nelson Ng Chak-Hei – USA, Hong Kong
EXCELLENCE IN SHORT FILMMAKING – DOCUMENTARY
- MAHALANG: A LOVE LETTER TO GUAM, dir. Elliot de Bruyn, Nathaniel Brown, Caili Quan – Guam
- 3 CENTS A KILO, dir. Shao Min Chew Chia – Singapore
- SỐNG Ở ĐÂY (TO LIVE HERE), dir. Melanie Ho – USA
EXCELLENCE IN CINEMATOGRAPHY – FEATURE
- BOOKMARK 14, Tatsuyuki Kozen, Kazuko Yonezawa – Japan
- TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY, Tzu-Hao Kao – Taiwan (Honorable Mention)
- MICKEY ON THE ROAD, Shen-Siang Fan – Taiwan
EXCELLENCE IN CINEMATOGRAPHY – SHORT
- LAST FERRY FROM GRASS LAND, Giorgos Valsamis – Hong Kong, USA
- MAGIC KINGDOM, Taylor Mcintosh – Hong Kong, USA
- WHO CAN PREDICT WHAT WILL MOVE YOU, Jack Davis – USA
EXCELLENCE IN EDITING – FEATURE
- THE KNOT, Vibhav Nigam – India
- DINNER PARTY, Chris Naoki Lee – USA
- IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, Masaya Tsutsumi – Japan
EXCELLENCE IN EDITING – SHORT
- FISHBOWL, Jacqueline Chan – USA
- FAMILY HEIRLOOM, William Pinke – USA
- MAHÅLANG: A LOVE LETTER TO GUAM, Elliot Debruyn – Guam
EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
- MICKEY ON THE ROAD, Yu-Ting Weng – Taiwan
- AMERICANISH, Caley Bisson, Kait Murphy – USA
- WAIKIKI, Analu Tomoso – USA
EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN – SHORT
- HELLO FROM TAIWAN, Shi Min Yong – USA, Taiwan
- LADY APSARA, Lianne Arnold – USA
- THE BLACK KITE, Hsuan Lee – Taiwan
EXCELLENCE IN SCREENWRITING – FEATURE
- INBETWEEN GIRL, Mei Makino – USA
- IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, Masaya Tsustumi – Japan
- SEE YOU THEN, Kristen Uno, Mari Walker – USA
EXCELLENCE IN SCREENWRITING – SHORT
- APART, TOGETHER, Olivia Hang Zhou, Jess Kohs – USA
- DISASTER PANTIES, Amanda Centeno – USA
- GOOD NEWS, Osric Chau – Canada
FOR YOUTH BY YOUTH ONE TO WATCH
- THE GULL’S SHRIEK, Ava Ghahremanifar – Iran
- BEYOND THE MODEL, Jessica Lin – USA
- GERALD’S BAD JUJU, Sandeep Vadlamudi – USA
- MY PUMPKIN, MY BOO, Marina Yap – Canada
JURORS
EMERGING DIRECTOR – NARRATIVE FEATURE
Cat Kim (Programmer/Writer; Associate Director at Cinema Arts Centre)
Isabel Sandoval (Director/Screenwriter/Actor, LINGUA FRANCA)
Bee Vang (Social Justice & Media Activist/Actor/Writer, GRAN TORINO)
EMERGING DIRECTOR – DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Robert Chang (Coordinating Producer of AMERICAN REFRAMEND)
Alexandra “Allie” Cuerdo (Director/Writer/Producer, ULAM: MAIN DISH)
Selena Yip (Festival Director at Philadelphia Asian American Film and Filmmakers)
EXCELLENCE IN SHORT FILMMAKING NARRATIVE & DOCUMENTARY
Jenn Kim (Senior Client Partner at IW Group)
Joann Park (Director of Audience Development and Publishing at Headspace)
Melody Shang (Actor/Producer; Owner of Dreaming Studio)
Cinematography – Feature & Short
Ante Chang (Cinematographer, BLUE BAYOU, MS. PURPLE)
Roland Lazarte (Cinematographer/Video producer, THE YEAR I DID NOTHING)
AnRong Xu (Photographer/Director)
Editing – Feature & Short
Son Duong (Video Editor at Outlier.org)
Julian Kim (Director/Animator, HAPPY CLEANERS)
Ellison Shieh (Artist/Filmmaker/Arts Organizer; Co-director of Seattle Asian American Film Festival)
Production Design – Feature & Short
Prisca Choe (Production Designer/Visual Artist; Co-founder and Director of Asian Womxn in the Arts)
Yiyi Han (Director/Screenwriter/Producer, SOMETHING ABOUT WONDER)
Vivian Hua (Director/Writer/Organizer; Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE)
Screenwriting – Feature & Short
Derek Nguyen (Director/Writer/Producer, THE HOUSEMAID)
Tera Tolentino (Writer, MAGNUM P.I.)
Bao Tran (Director/Writer/Editor, THE PAPER TIGERS)
For Youth By Youth One To Watch
Christina DeHaven-Call (Producer, WEDNESDAY MORNING; Associate Chair of Production for Undergraduate Film & TV at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts)
Joanne Kwong (President of Pearl River Mart)
Samantha Seid (Digital and Educational Media Professional; Digital Associate Producer at NBCUniversal)
