The 32nd annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival gave top prizes to two films directed by women: L.A.-based Lena Khan’s "The Tiger Hunter", which won the grand jury prize for narrative feature; and the top winner in the docu category, Nanfu Wang’s "Hooligan Sparrow", Variety reports.
"Tiger," which marks Khan’s feature-directing debut, also won three other prizes, including the audience award for fiction feature.
Pamela Tom won the inaugural Visual Communicators Founders Award for her documentary "Tyrus." The award recognizes those who represent "the fierceness and spirit" of the Visual Communications founders, which is the festival’s producing organization.
Narrative Film Awards winners: grand jury prize, "The Tiger Hunger"; director, Khan for "Tiger Hunter"; screenplay, Ryun Yu for "The Last Tour"; editor, Rachel Tejada for "Grass"; cinematography, Quyen Tran for "Pali Road"; sound design, Kenneth L. Johnson for "The Unbidden"; actress, Michelle Chen for "Pali Road"; actor, Christopher Dinh for "Comfort"; ensemble, the cast of "Tiger Hunter"; and visual effects, Hazmadt, Julius Sanchez for "Vampariah."
In the docu awards, grand jury prize went to "Hooligan" while Wang took home best director. The audience award for documentary feature was given to Salima Koroma for "Bad Rap."
The festival closed May 5 with the L.A. premiere of Jonathan Lim’s romantic drama "Pali Road."
