43rd Asian American International Film Festival Announces Award Winners 

OCTOBER 9, 2020, NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Presented by Asian CineVision, the 43rd Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF43) announced the winners and finalists for the nine jury prize awards this year. The award of Emerging Director - Narrative Feature went to Ran Jing, director of MODEL, while Alice Gu, director of THE DONUT KING, took home the award of Emerging Director - Documentary Feature. The full list of winners and finalists is highlighted below. Tickets can still be purchased or reserved at https://www.aaiff.org/ticketing. 

Excited to explore more possibilities in storytelling, the Festival this year introduced a new category of VR & Digital Shorts and awarded the Excellence in Digital/New Media to LUTAW, directed by Samantha Quick. All the winners will receive software licenses of Final Draft, one of AAIFF43’s sponsors. 

AAIFF43 is currently running in an entirely online format and will end on October 11th, featuring more than 3 hours of livestreamed panels, Q&As, networking events, and performances everyday, all accessible as pay-as-you-wish programs. Upcoming highlights include a Masterclass with Ramona Diaz, where the award-winning Filipino-American documentary filmmaker will share her career and filmmaking process, and Cinemax’s Warrior Actors Roundtable, a roundtable discussion with actors from the action-drama television series. The complete lineup of events is available at https://www.aaiff.org/events/.  

• AAISC Screenplay Competition

CASE UNSOLVED, dir. C.J. Arellano - USA  

AMERICAN BORN, dir. Jane Pak Oh, Gwydhar Gebien, Nathan Ellis - US

DESCENDANTS OF THE DRAGON - dir. Alan Sim - Singapore 

• One to Watch Award

THE OTHER SIDE, dir. Josh Leong - Ethiopia, U.S.

LUCKY GIRL, dir. Sidi Wang - US

THREE FISH, dir. Milky Tran - USA

• Excellence in Music Video

“ANPU” - ZOEA, dir. Powei Su - Taiwan

CHOOSE-SUPER SMACK, dir. Catherine Ricafort - USA

NOBODY I CAN TRUST-KEMBA, dir. Tomson Tee - USA

• Excellence in Episodic

SIDEWAYS SMILE, dir. Hang Nguyen - USA

HIGHBREAD, dir. Jayesh Jaidka - US

SO BRIGHT 2, dir. Kok Man Hon - Singapore

• Excellence in Digital/New Media

LUTAW, dir. Samantha Quick - USA

FUCKING JAPANESE, dir. SJ Son & Woody Fu - Korea, Japan, USA

...IZAKAYA, dir. Ryoji Sugimoto & Chuya Sudo - Japan

• Excellence in Documentary Short Filmmaking

HOW SHE MOVES, dir. Anya Raza and Aisha Linnea - Pakistan

BETWEEN THE NOTES, dir. Jordan Hwang - USA, Taiwan

YAI NIN, dir. Champ Ensminger - Thailand

• Excellence in Narrative Short Filmmaking

STAY AWAKE, BE READY, dir. Pham Thien An - Vietnam, South Korea, USA

HAUNT, dir. Siamak Kashefazar - Iran 

THE PREGNANT GROUND, dir. Haolu Wang - UK / China

THINGS WE CARRY, dir. Bo Yoon Ha - South Korea 

• Emerging Director - Documentary Feature

Alice Gu, THE DONUT KING - USA

Shalini Kantayya, CODED BIAS - USA

Shuling Yong, UNTEACHABLE - Singapore

• Emerging Director - Narrative Feature

Ran Jing, MODEL - China 

Li Dong, STEALING SCHOOL - Canada 

Sujata Day, DEFINITION PLEASE - USA