“A Sad and Beautiful World,” “Left-Handed Girl,” Vishal Jethwa and Tandin Bidha were among the competition winners at the 11th Asian World Film Festival. The winners were announced at the festival’s closing night ceremony on Nov. 20 in Culver City.
The Lebanese feature “A Sad and Beautiful World” took home the festival’s top prize: the Snow Leopard for best film. Directed by Cyril Aris, the film follows a pair of childhood sweethearts who reunite as adults against the backdrop of political turmoil in Beirut.
“Left-Handed Girl” won the Snow Leopard Audience Award. A Taiwanese feature from director Shih-Ching Tsou, the movie centers around a single mother and her two daughters who open up a night market stall in Taipei. The film is co-written, produced and edited by Academy Award winner Sean Baker, will be released on Netflix Nov. 28.
Jethwa took home the Snow Leopard for best actor for his performance in the Indian feature “Homebound” while Tandin Bidha won the Snow Leopard for best actress for her role in the Bhutan feature “I, the Song.”
The festival spanned 10 days in Culver City, showcasing 46 features and 27 shorts from over 30 Asian countries. Chinese filmmaker Binying served as the festival’s feature film jury president and South Korean filmmaker-actress Jiseung Cho served as the short film jury president.
AWFF executive director Georges N. Chamchoum states, “In this, our 11th year, we had the good fortune of showing works of unusual strength, clarity and craft. We redoubled our focus on filmmaking and the Asian film experience and were rewarded with a festival that underlined Asia’s exceptional contribution to world cinema.”
See the full list of this year’s AWFF winners below:
- Snow Leopard for Best Film – “A Sad and Beautiful World” (Lebanon), Cyril Aris, director
- Snow Leopard for Best Actor – Vishal Jethwa, “Homebound” (India)
- Snow Leopard for Best Actress – Tandin Bidha, “I, the Song” (Bhutan)
- Snow Leopard Special Jury Award – “Palestine 36” (Palestine), Annemarie Jacir, director
- Snow Leopard Jury Discretionary Award for Best Director – Anselm Chan, “The Last Dance” (Hong Kong)
- Snow Leopard Audience Award – “Left-Handed Girl” (Taiwan), Shih-Ching Tsou, director
- Asian Vision Award – “The Summer Will End” (Russia/Yakutia), Maksim Arbugaev and Vladimir Munkuev
- Best Short Film – “Don’t Be Late, Myra” (Pakistan), Afia Serena Nathaniel, director
- Short Film First Runner-up – “Sheep” (Iran), Hadi Babaeifar, director
- Short Film Second Runner-up – “Before the Winter” (U.S./China), Juan Zuloaga Eslait, director
- Short Film Special Mention – “Zahra” (Jordan), Hadi Shatat, director
- Snow Leopard Lifetime Achievement Award – Daniel Lee (Yan-Kong Lee), action and martial arts writer-director
- Snow Leopard for Outstanding Cinematic Achievement (Male) – Lee Byung Hun, actor and singer
- Snow Leopard for Outstanding Cinematic Achievement (Female) – Lucy Liu, American actress
- Snow Leopard Rising Star – Nina Ye, Taiwanese actress
- Bruce Lee Award – Michael Jai White, American actor-martial artist