February 22 , 2022

2nd Annual Asian World Film Festival Opens in Culver City October 24: Best of Asian World Cinema

This is the first festival of its kind to play in the United States, giving audiences the unique opportunity to see films from Japan and Turkey and everywhere in-between. The festival is held at the height of the awards season to give these Asian filmmakers maximum exposure. The festival’s Executive Director, Georges N. Chamchoum is announcing films from 51 countries which are eligible. Greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers will strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries.

All films selected by their countries as Oscar® or Golden Globes® contenders are automatically invited. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizes these showings as the required official screenings for their members who vote on the Golden Globes®. At last year’s inaugural event some 30 films from 27 countries participated.

The closing night film will be South Korea’s “Operation Chromite”, starring Liam Neeson as General Douglas MacArthur.

A number of special awards will be handed out during the festival, including the Cinematic Achievement Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award and a Rising Star Award. These are in addition to the jury awards.

The films will be screened at the Arclight Cinema in Downtown Culver City, with the opening night reception and dinner to be held at the Culver Hotel. Sponsors include the above-mentioned Arclight and the landmark Culver Hotel, as well as the city of Culver City, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions.

AWFF will open with a red carpet awards gala on Monday, October 26th to recognize celebrities and well-known foreign talent and filmmakers who have been major contributors throughout the Asian world film community. This gala will be followed by seven days of films at ArcLight Cinema and the iPic Theater culminating with the closing night Festival Awards presented along with the closing night film on Monday, November 2nd.

Throughout the week there will also be expert panels on subjects such as film financing, distribution, PR, marketing and awards campaigns, editing for a global audience, and more to be announced.

Honorary Board members include actor, writer, producer Kevin James who is director and chief liaison for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Film and Television; Amin Maalouf, French/Lebanese best selling author; George Ovashvili, filmmaker from the Republic of Georgia; Antonio Villaraigosa, former L.A. Mayor; Vladimir Menshov, an Oscar®-winning director from Russia and Bobby Moresco, Oscar®-winning writer and director.

Among the Advisory Board members are Imran Khan, the American/Indian actor; Jeremy Kagan, Emmy®-winning TV and film director and Sydney Levine, columnist (sydneysbuzz) and international film consultant.

AWFF was founded by its chairman, Kyrgyyzstan filmmaker and public figure Sadyk Sher-Niyaz.

About the Asian World Film Festival

The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) brings the best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles in order to draw greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers, strengthening ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries. Uniting through cross-cultural collaboration, our festival champions films from 51 countries across Asia spanning from Turkey to Japan and Russia to India and the Middle East. All films that participate in the Festival will have a unique chance to be guided through the challenging awards season, showcasing their foreign films to the Motion Picture Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and all Guilds for enhanced exposure, media attention and awards consideration. AWFF is a non-profit organization under Aitysh USA. www.AsianWorldFilmFest.org

Uniting through cross-cultural collaboration, our festival champions films from 48 countries across Asia spanning from Turkey to Japan to Russia to India. All films that participate will have the chance to be guided through the challenging Hollywood awards season and gain enhanced media exposure.

Films that will be accepted by the Festival include those from the 50 countries recognized by the Academy and HFPA. Priority will be given to those in the Best Foreign Language Film categories at the 88th Academy Awards and 73rd Golden Globes. In rare cases the Asian World Film Festival will consider other outstanding films outside of these categories.

More detailed guidelines for film submissions are available at http://www.asianworldfilmfest.org/submissions.

The film prizes will be of significant value to enhance the awards campaign and feature top honors for Best Film, Jury Selection, and Audience awards as well as full page ads in the Foreign Film and Oscar Wrap issues valued at over $50,000.

The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF), which is dedicated to bringing the best of Asian world cinema to Los Angeles, has added East West Artists (EWA) Co-Founder Jaeson Ma as Director of International Relations. AWFF has also enlisted several notable individuals for its Honorary Board, including former Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa.

“Jaeson Ma is an ideal partner and asset to AWFF because of long established relationships with the Hollywood and Asian filmmaking industries. He is a trusted ally and invaluable addition,” said producer Lani Netter, who serves as the Festival’s Director of Development and Philanthropy. Ma’s broad-based expertise directly aligns with AWFF’s goal of drawing greater recognition to an underrepresented region in filmmaking.

Ma added, “There are many incredible films in Asia that are not recognized by the international marketplace. But now they have a fighting chance to be acknowledged and celebrated at the highest level through AWFF.”

The Festival’s Advisory Board welcomed producer Stefan Brunner; Shoreline Entertainment producer Alex Flores; producer Medha Jaishankar; Emmy-winning TV and film director Jeremy Kagan; scholar and expert on Soviet and American film history Igor Kokarev; producer Brad Littlefield; producer and founder/CEO of the Hollywood Film Academy Gia Noortas; South Korean film producer Keon-Seop Park; producer Eliyas Qureshi; producer Nick N. Raslan; and Cultural Affairs Commissioner to the City of Culver City Thomas Small.

International film consultant and producer Peter Belsito; His Royal Highness Prnce Gharios of Ghassan; immediate past chair for the Board of Directors at the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Harry Haddad; Lebanese philanthropist Maya Ibrahim; best-selling author and member of the French Academy Amin Maalouf; Oscar®-winning producer Andre Morgan (Million Dollar Baby); director George Ovashvili; Hon. Roy Paul, judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County; South Korean film producer and distributor Chul Shin; community leader and founder of the Hollywood Schoolhouse Ferris Wehbe; Weissman/Markowitz Communications Chairman and Co-Founder Murray Weissman; and Korean activist and public figure Grace Yoo will serve on this year’s Honorary Board.

With TheWrap serving as the official media partner, AWFF will take place from October 26th-November 2nd, 2015 at ArcLight Cinema in downtown Culver City and the luxury iPic Theaters in Westwood.

About the Asian World Film Festival:

We Champion, Recognize, and Unite Through Cinema.

AWFF is a non-profit organization under Aitysh USA. Read more about AWFF at

http://www.AsianWorldFilmFest.org