Iris Wang cherishes stint as jury president of Asian World Film Festival

Despite feeling a bit exhausted after an international flight from the United States, filmmaker Iris Wang excitedly shared her experience serving as the jury president of the 10th Asian World Film Festival.

The annual event, initiated by Kyrgyz filmmaker Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, has its own distinctive charm, primarily showcasing Oscar and Golden Globe-submitted films from Asia vying for the Best Foreign Language Film awards. Since its inception, the festival has screened over 100 Academy Awards and 50 Golden Globe submissions.

This year, the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film, one of the festival's top honors, went to the Malaysian crime film Abang Adik, which is about a pair of undocumented orphans. The film, directed by Jin Ong, also won Wu Kang-ren the Snow Leopard Award for Best Actor.

Prestigious Hong Kong director Peter Ho-Sun Chan, known for blockbusters like Perhaps Love, The Warlords, and Soulmate, took home the Snow Leopard Award for Outstanding Cinematic Achievement. Another high-profile honor of the festival, the Bruce Lee Award, went to Hawaii-born American martial artist, actor and director Mark Dacascos.

Wang revealed that she was invited to preside over the jury panel while attending the 2nd Bishkek International Film Festival earlier this year. Wang was there for the festival's screening of The Composer, a biographical portrait of late musician Xian Xinghai. The movie is produced by the Beijing-based Shinework Pictures, which was founded by Wang and her husband Jonathan Shen.

Joining Wang on the jury panel are cinematographer Patti Lee, singer-actress Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, filmmaker Sam Kadi, actress Stephanie Nur, actress-writer Sue Shaheen, and producer-actor Jiin Jang.

"It was a very pleasant experience to watch all the 16 nominated films and share views with the jurors, all hailing from Asia but also with deep ties to Hollywood. I value the festival as a wonderful platform for cultural exchanges and hope that we can collaborate on some co-production projects in the future," said Wang.