AWFF Announces Awards To Be Presented At Closing Night Gala

The eighth annual Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) TODAY announced that Oscarâ-winning producer Albert S. Ruddy (The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby) will be feted with this year's Snow Leopard Lifetime Achievement Award and Cannes award-winning writer, director, producer Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden) will be given the Snow Leopard Outstanding Cinematic Achievement Award.

In addition, actor, writer, producer Desmond Chiam ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," "With Love") will be feted with the Snow Leopard Rising Star Award and Hong Kong Film Award-winning actor, martial artist, director, and producer Daniel Wu ("Westworld," Caught in Time), the Bruce Lee Award.

The quartet, along with competition winners and philanthropic and benefactor honorees, will be celebrated at the Closing Night Gala awards ceremony and reception on November 18 at Saban Theater, Beverly Hills. Red carpet begins at 5:00 PM.

"This is our night to award the great filmmaking talent emerging from Asian nations and Asian filmmakers living around the world," said Georges Chamchoum, AWFF executive director. "With screenings from more than 50 countries, 2022 is our most ambitious festival to date and I am excited to see whom our jury members name as the outstanding Asian voices of today."

The star-studded, entertainment-filled, show will also see AWFF honor several charitable organizations and figures. Two Benefactor Awards will be given, the first to Jennifer McCormick and Lani Netter of Ladies Tiffany Circle American Red Cross and the second to Raghu Kilambi, CEO/CFO, Power Tap Hydrogen Fueling Corporation. The trio are being recognized for their ongoing support of AWFF. THE ONE Heart Award for promoting social and/or environmental well-being will be bestowed upon community organization Love Life Learning Foundation's cofounders, businessman Alan Vo Ford, and Jenny Ai Trinh Thai.

The Ladies Tiffany Circle Red Cross Courage to Dream Award will be given to Dr. Michael Dao and Dr. Linh Bui for their philanthropy and work with charities and non-profits. Finally, Vietnamese actress, model, singer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Truong Ngoc Anh will receive the Winn-Slavin Humanitarian Award.

This year's Cannes Best Actress Award-winner, Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider), will present the Rising Star Award to Chiam. Additional presenters will include award-winning, Hong Kong writer and actress Nathalie Yao Meng; actress and co-host of Vietnamese musical variety show "Paris by Night," Ky Duyen; and actress and producer Mai Thu Huyen. Vietnamese singers Ha Phuong and Dam Vinh Hung; Chinese, Japanese, and Lebanese dancers; and Korean K-pop artists will all perform during the ceremony.

For the last four decades, Lifetime Achievement Awardee Albert S. Ruddy has co-led the Ruddy Morgan Organization with producer Andre Morgan. The company has supported and promoted Asian filmmakers and talent, developed and co-produced Asian content, and helped open Hollywood doors for Asian actors.

A two-time Best Picture Oscar winner, Albert Ruddy also earned a pair of Best Motion Picture Golden Globes for The Godfather and The Longest Yard, respectively. He executive produced more than a dozen TV series, including the long-running "Walker, Texas Ranger," which he also co-created. Ruddy's daughter, actress, writer, and producer Alexandra Ruddy, will be accepting the award on behalf of her father.

Outstanding Cinematic Achievement recipient Park Chan-wook has written, directed, and produced some of this century's most critically acclaimed motion pictures produced in Asia.

The filmmaker first rose to worldwide attention in 2004 with Old Boy, which garnered a Cannes Grand Prix, among other accolades. In 2016, The Handmaiden also received a Grand Prix and was named Best Foreign Language Feature by eight U.S. critics associations.

Chan-wook's 2022 feature, Decision to Leave, has already earned the filmmaker his fourth Cannes Award, this time for Best Director. Actress Kieu Chinh will arrive from the set of Park Chan-wook's upcoming HBO series, The Sympathizer, to accept Chan-wook's award.

Rising Star Awardee Desmond Chiam has made his mark in TV over the last decade, with notable roles in the Marvel series "Falcon and the Snowman" as well as ABC's "Reef Break," Amazon Studios' "With Love" and Netflix's "Partner Track."

This year's Bruce Lee Awardee, Daniel Wu, has acted and performed martial arts in more than 60 Hollywood and Hong Kong-produced feature films including Tomb Raider and Warcraft. He can next be seen in the Disney+ limited TV series "American Born Chinese." The martial arts TV drama "Into the Badlands" star is also known for his work helping stem Asian-American discrimination and anti-Asian crime in the U.S.

AWFF's Snow Leopard Awards are presented in association with the Snow Leopard Trust to raise awareness for the endangered snow leopard and its threatened Asian mountain ecosystem.

The eighth annual Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) takes place in multiple locations through Los Angeles, November 9 - 18, 2022.

AWFF sponsors and partners include: Aitysh USA, Peer, Dr. Dao Medical Center, Winn Slavin Fine Art, Dutcher Crossing, Panavision, THE ONE Heart Movement, The Bruce Lee Foundation, Ha Phuong Foundation, Barco, Korean Cultural Center (KCC, LA), Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), Asia Society, Southern California, Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), Taiwan Academy, Los Angeles, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), American Red Cross/Ladies Tiffany Circle, AKIpress News Agency, Nova Entertainment, Jackson Market and Deli, and Emporium Thai.

ABOUT THE ASIAN WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF), founded by Kyrgyz public figure Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, brings the best of a broad selection of Asian world cinema to Los Angeles to draw greater recognition to the region's wealth of filmmakers and to strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries.

Uniting through cross-cultural collaboration, the Festival champions films from more than 50 countries across Asia, from Turkey to Japan and from Russia to India and the Middle East. All participating films are provided with the unique opportunity to be guided through the challenging awards season.

They're also showcased to Motion Picture Academy members, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the entertainment Guilds for enhanced exposure, media attention, and awards consideration. AWFF is a non-profit organization under Aitysh, USA.

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