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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 07 May 2016 10:21

The 2016 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) produced by Visual Communications celebrated its closing night of their 32nd edition with an awards ceremony and the LA premiere screening of the romantic drama PALI ROAD directed by Jonathan Lim.

Los Angeles based director Lena Khan was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature for her feature debut THE TIGER HUNTER starring Danny Pudi, Karen David and Jon Heder. Khan was also recognized with the festival’s Best Director Award for the same film. And her entire cast of THE TIGER HUNTER was recognized with Best Ensemble Cast Award making the film a three-time award winner.

“BAD RAP” – by SALIMA KAROMA - WINS AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

“THE TIGER HUNTER” – by LENA KHAN - WINS AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE

GOLDEN REEL AWARD for BEST SHORT FILM GOES TO TWO FILMS

“THE LOBSTER KID” – by JOSEPH CHEN-CHIEH HSU

“THE CHICKEN OF WUZUH” – by SUNGIN BYUN

LINDA MABALOT NEW DIRECTORS/NEW VISIONS AWARD GOES TO – “FATA MORGANA” by AMELIE WEN

Additional Narrative Feature awards presented on closing night include:

Best Screenplay                     RYUN YU for THE LAST TOUR

Best Editor                             RACHEL TEJADA for GRASS

Best Cinematography           QUYEN TRAN for PALI ROAD

Best Sound Design                KENNETH L. JOHNSON for THE UNBIDDEN

Best Actress                           MICHELLE CHEN for PALI ROAD

Best Actor                               CHRISTOPHER DINH for COMFORT

Best Ensemble Cast       Cast of THE TIGER HUNTER

Best Visual Effects                 HAZ MADT, JULIUS SANCHEZ for VAMPARIAH 

In the documentary competition, the moving HOOLIGAN SPARROW from Nanfu Wang won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.  The filmdocuments just how dangerous it is to be a women’s rights activist in China, observing the life of Ye Haiyan, a.k.a. Sparrow, but it also reveals the danger and difficulty in making a film on this topic. HOOLIGAN SPARROW follows Ye Haiyan, as she is chased from town to town by local governments, national secret police, and even her own neighbors after she seeks justice against an elementary school principal who abused six girls.  In addition, director Nanfu Wang was awarded the Best Director prize, as well.

Additional awards presented include:

Best Cinematography           S. LEO CHIANG for OUT RUN

Best Editing                           MIKIKO SASAKI for THE GREAT SASUKE 

As a special jury prize, the documentary jury awarded PAMELA TOM for her film TYRUS with the VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDERS AWARD.  This special inaugural award recognizes a talented artist who exemplifies the spirit and fierceness of the founders of Visual Communications – the festival’s producing organization.

Attendance was up with many sold out shows this year and audiences really responding to the films and stories.  All of the 40 feature films were eligible for Audience Award. This was divided into the fiction and documentary categories.  This year, the awards were given out to two female directors. BAD RAP by Solima Karoma took home the Audience Award in the documentary arena that focused on the current hot Asian American hip-hop scene; and THE TIGER HUNTER by Lena Khan wowed the audiences and won the Audience Award for Best Fiction Feature. 

This year, the LAAPFF presented over 102 short films from directors across the globe.  Two films took home the Golden Reel Award for Best Overall Short Film:

THE LOBSTER KID by JOSEPH CHEN-CHIEH HSU

THE CHICKEN OF WUZUH by SUNGIN BYUN

The Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award went to:

FATA MORGANA by AMELIE WEN

Special Jury Prize:  COME, THE LIGHT by CHAO KOI-WANG

The 2016 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is sponsored by:

PRESENTING: Lexus

PLATINUM: Comcast NBC Universal; Sony Pictures Entertainment

GOLD: Directors Guild of America; HBO; Nielsen; Wells Fargo 

SILVER: FilmLA, Pechanga

BRONZE: Go Little Tokyo, SAG Indie

STAR: Motion Picture Editors Guild; SAG-AFTRA; Writers Guild of America, West; Simple DCP;

VENUE SPONSORS: Aratani Theatre/Japanese American Cultural & Community Center; Directors Guild of America; Japanese American National Museum; Downtown Independent; CGV Cinemas; The Great Company; USC Pacific Asian Museum; Far Bar; Far East Lounge

MEDIA SPONSORS: AngryAsianMan.com; LA18 KSCI-TV; MYX TV; TRAKTIVIST.com; International Documentary Association, FORM follows FUNCTION

GOVERNMENT: National Endowment for the Arts; Los Angeles County Arts Commission; Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; California Humanities

FOUNDATION: Aratani Foundation; James Irvine Foundation; SAG-P IACF; Asian Pacific Community Fund; M.A. & Josephine R. Grisham Foundation

RECEPTION: The Park’s Finest; Asahi; Kirin; Stella Artois; LA18 KSCI-TV; Pop’d Up; Twinkle Brown Sugar; AFC Soy Foods; Found Coffee, Crème Caramel LA, The Boba Truck; Bruce Tea

IN KIND: The Park’s Finest; HBO; Bruce Tea; Peter Ly; Shiftboard.com; FestPro; Telepath Corporation; IKON Office Supplies; Meiji; LA18 KSCI-TV; Ace Beverages; Mendocino Farms; Piehole