Awards Announced for the 25th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Children of Invention, Treeless Mountain, White On Rice, All About Dad, Whatever It Takes, and Karma Calling Take Top Honors at the 2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Children of Invention, Treeless Mountain, White On Rice, All About Dad, Whatever It Takes, and Karma Calling Take Top Honors at the 2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

The 2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival celebrated the closing night of their 25th Anniversary edition on Thursday night with the screening of the Oscar winning film DEPARTURES - a film by Yojiro Takita and the announcement of this years jury prizes.

AsianConnections' interview by Jenny Woo with director Yojiro Takita will be posted online during the week of May 29, when the film is released in theaters in the U.S.

Tze Chuns CHILDREN OF INVENTION took home the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction Film along with a couple of acting awards for the films two young actors Michael Chen and Crystal Chiu in the main roles.

So Yong Kim was honored with the Outstanding Director Award for her film TREELESS MOUNTAIN and her two main actors who are also children Hee Yeon Kim and Song Hee Kim received acting honors.

David Boyles film WHITE ON RICE received the Outstanding Screenplay prize, while young lead actor Justin Kwong received an acting award for his role as Bob.

First time filmmaker Mark Tran received the Outstanding First Film Award for his feature ALL ABOUT DAD.

The winning audience awards votes that were texted into Verizon Wireless included KARMA CALLING from Sarba Das for favorite fiction film and WHATVER IT TAKES from Christopher Wong for favorite documentary film.

In the documentary jury competition, WHATEVER IT TAKES received the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Non-Fiction film, while THE REAL SHAOLIN from Alexander Lee was given a Special Jury Prize.

Short films this year were in abundance with 136 shorts being screened at the festival. The film A GREEN MOUNTAIN IN THE DRAWER from Lee Hwa June was the recipient of the Golden Reel Award, while Michael Tay was honored with the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award for his film WET SEASON .

Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival showcased 181 films and shorts from 26 countries.Sponsors of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival include: Official Vehicle Sponsor Toyota; Premiere Directors Guild of America, Gilead Sciences; Gold Verizon Wireless; Official Beer Sponsor Stella Artois; Official Domestic Airlines Southwest Airlines; Government Support City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts; Media Sponsors angryasianman.com, KPCC, LA Weekly, LA18

ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival presented by Visual Communications is the Southlands premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific cinema. Since 1983, the Film Festival has presented over 3000 films and videos by Asian international and Asian diasporic artists, and additionally features seminars and panels, in-person guest appearances, and filmmaker awards.

ABOUT VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS
Visual Communications (VC), the nation's premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, was established in 1970. The organization has established a lengthy track record of pioneering achievements in producing, presenting, and preserving more honest and accurate representations of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in America. Visual Communications is also recognized as an incubator of emerging Asian Pacific American cinematic talent. The organization's works have been exhibited in numerous venues and broadcast outlets around the world.

LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL 2009 AWARDS

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

GRAND JURY PRIZE OUTSTANDING FILM
CHILDREN OF INVENTION A FILM BY TZE CHUN

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR
SO YONG KIM TREELESS MOUNTAIN

OUTSTANDING FIRST FILM
MARK TRAN ALL ABOUT DAD

OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY
DAVID BOYLE AND JOEL CLARK WHITE ON RICE

ACTING AWARDS NEW TALENT TO WATCH
MICHAEL CHEN CHILDREN OF INVENTION
CRYSTAL CHIU CHILDREN OF INVENTION

HEE YEON KIM TREELESS MOUNTAIN
SONG HEE KIM TREELESS MOUNTAIN

JUSTIN BOB KWONG WHITE ON RICE

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

GRAND JURY PRIZE OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY
WHATEVER IT TAKES - A FILM BY CHRISTOPHER WONG

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
THE REAL SHAOLIN - DIRECTED BY ALEXANDER LEE

SHORT FILM PRIZES

GOLDEN REEL AWARD OUTSTANDING SHORT FILM

A GREEN MOUNTAIN IN THE DRAWER A FILM BY LEE HWA JUNE

LINDA MABALOT NEW DIRECTORS/NEW VISIONS
WET SEASON A FILM BY MICHAEL TAY

AUDIENCE AWARDS - FAVORITE FILMS OF THE LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL 2009

FICTION FILM
KARMA CALLING A FILM BY SARBA DAS

DOCUMENTARY FILM
WHATEVER IT TAKES A FILM BY CHRISTOPHER WONG