25th los angeles asian pacific film festival awards

Almost forgot... The 25th anniversary edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival wrapped up last week, celebrating its closing night by handing out jury prizes to a number of films, including the Grand Jury Prize for Tze Chun's Children of Invention, the Outstanding Director Award for So Yong Kim's Treeless Mountain and the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Non-Fiction film for Christopher Wong's Whatever It Takes. Here's the full list of winners:

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 JUN

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


2009 AUDIENCE AWARDS

FICTION FILM:
KARMA CALLING - A FILM BY SARBA DAS

DOCUMENTARY FILM:
WHATEVER IT TAKES - A FILM BY CHRISTOPHER WONG

These are all definitely films and talents to watch. As someone who watches a considerable number of short films, I was particularly happy to see awards go to Lee Hwa Jun's A Green Mountain in the Drawer and Michael Tay's Wet Season. Seek them out if you get the chance. For more information on all the films, as well as photos from the festival, go to the website here.