Official Oscar® Submissions from Asia Showcased at The Asian World Film Festival
21 Best Foreign Language Film submissions and 16 Golden Globe submissions make this festival an important event in Los Angeles.
Now in its third year, The Asian World Film Festival is held at the Arclight in Culver City. While still dealing with growing pains, especially finding its audience, it still hosts a great community of film lovers and filmmakers. My wish is that next year it will reach farther to the Asian filmmaking community in L.A. and to the ethnic communities of L.A. who would love to see the works of their homeland filmmakers which are making their way toward Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Films.
The winner this year of multiple prizes was the South Korean submission A Taxi Driver. This funny and very serious film is so important today, and with the best publicist for the Academy Awards, Pogodin & Associattes, it looks like it may at least make the short list and hopefully will be chosen as one of the five Academy Award Nominees…
All films selected by their countries as Oscar or Golden Globe contenders are automatically invited to participate at the Film Festival. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizes selected showings as the required official screenings for their members who vote on the Golden Globes. Here are the 21 films from Asia submitted for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category:
A TAXI DRIVER — REPUBLIC OF KOREA Jury Award for Best Movie
AYLA: THE DAUGHTER OF WAR — TURKEY. Audience Award Winner
MAD WORLD — HONG KONG Winner Special Jury Award
SCARY MOTHER — GEORGIA
WHITE SUN — NEPAL
LITTLE GANDHI — SYRIA
YEVA — ARMENIA
BY THE TIME IT GETS DARK — THAILAND
POP AYE — SINGAPORE
THE DARK WIND — IRAQ
FATHER AND SON — VIETNAM
BIRDSHOT — PHILIPPINES
CENTAUR — KYRGYZSTAN
SAAWAN — PAKISTAN
TURAH — INDONESIA
BREATH — IRAN
HER LOVE BOILS BATHWATER — JAPAN
ROAD TO MOTHER — KAZAKHSTAN
THE CHILDREN OF GENGHIS — MONGOLIA
BURNING BIRDS — Sri Lanka
POMEGRANATE ORCHARD — AZERBAIJAN
DEAREST SISTER — LAOS
SADYK SHER-NIYAZ, FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN
Sadyk Sher-Niyaz is a successful public figure, producer and director who followed his dream to attend film school in Moscow at the age of 38. He is the Chairman of the Union of Filmmakers of Kyrgyzstan, the founder of the Aitysh Public Fund, which includes Aitysh Film and the Kalemger Literary Club, and one of the founders of the Ak Ilbers Film Awards. In 2011 he established the International Film Festival ‘Kyrgyzstan — Land of Short Films’ which is held every December in the capital of Bishkek. In 2015, his directorial debut film ‘Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains’, was Kyrgyzstan’s official Oscar submission and gained critical acclaim and wide audience appreciation. The awards season campaign launched a sold-out red carpet awards screening introduced by Sharon Stone, garnering awards buzz and reaching the rank of #12 out of 83 foreign films. The film was also featured at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
GEORGES N. CHAMCHOUM, EXECUTIVE & PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Georges Chamchoum is an Emmy and multiple award-winning Film Director and Producer, born in Niger West Africa of Lebanese origin. He was educated in France, Germany and Wales and entered the film industry in 1968 after graduating from the Conservatoire du Cinema Francais in Paris. Georges has directed and produced over 35 features in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Canada and the USA, with many screened at various International Film Festivals and Universities. He has also organized numerous film festivals since 1982, most notably as Jury Delegate for the Festival du Film Fantastique et de Science Fiction de Paris (France) and as the Executive and Program Director of the Monaco Charity Film Festival. Georges is currently the International Director of the Yakutsk International Film Festival (Yakutia, Sakha Republic) and International Relations Executive for Notre Dame University International Film Festival (Lebanon). In addition, he is Co-founder of Film Festivals Cinergy, a union of film festivals around the world to promote and champion talent in filmmaking. Georges has lived in Los Angeles for the past 28 years. Most recently, in 2017, he was named one of the 100 most influential Lebanese in the world and has been honored in a special commemorative publication to mark the occasion.
