| The AWFF Closing Night Awards Ceremony took place at Arclight Cinema, Culver City last night, followed by a screening of Japan’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film Weathering with You and a reception at Kitchen 51.
The evening was hosted by actress Nancy Yoon, Co-founder of Asians In LA.
Snow Leopard Awards were presented by the 2019 AWFF Jury including Ms. Meryem Uzerli (Actress, Germany/Turkey), Jury President, Ms. Guka Omarova (Director, Kazakhstan), Ms. Kieu Chinh (Actress/Producer/Writer from USA/Vietnam), Ms. Sarah Finn (Casting Director, USA), Mr. Jeremy Kagan, (Emmy®-winning Director, USA), Ms. Wenting (Ting Ting) Xu (HFPA) and Ms. Iris Yamashita (Oscar®-nominated Screenwriter).
In attendance were AWFF’s Sadyk Sher-Niyaz (Founder/Chairman), Georges N. Chamchoum (Executive/Programing Director) Asel Sherniyazova (Co-Founder/ Managing Director) Tony Chan (Director, The Bravest), Said Faraj (Green Zone), Shun Oguri (Weathering with You), Tomer Oz (The Heart), Hiroki Shirota (The Outsider), Chen Tang (Mulan) Chris Tashima (Under the Blood-Red Sun), Toru Uchikado (Sea of Mirrors), Janet Wu (TV Personality), Takato Yonemoto (Naked Director), among many others.
The evening’s big winners were:
Snow Leopard Audience Award: 1982 (Lebanon), presented by Actress Tiffany Chu and accepted by Director Oualid Mouaness.
Snow Leopard Best Actress Award: Arezoo Ariapoor, Fereshta Afshar and Hasiba Ebrahimi for Hava, Maryam, Aesha (Afghanistan, Iran), presented by “Ting Ting” Xu. who also accepted on behalf of the actresses.
Snow Leopard Best Actor Award: Stepan Petrov for The Sun Above Me Never Sets (Yakutia, Russia), presented by actor Kieu Chin and accepted by Irina Engelis, Executive Director of the Yakutsk International Film Festival.
Snow Leopard Jury Award – Best Director: Dito Tsintsadze for Shindisi (Georgia), accepted by Mr. Tsintsadze.
Snow Leopard Special Jury Award: Aurora (Kyrgyzstan), presented by Sarah Finn and accepted by Director Bekzat Pirmatov.
Snow Leopard Best Film Award: The Sun Above Me Never Sets (Yakutia, Russian Federation), presented by Jury President Meryem Uzerli and accepted by Irina Engelis , Executive Director of the Yakutsk International Film Festival. |
