2022 Festival Lineup
Opening Film
Hunt (South Korea, 131 mins)
AWFF Opening Film Screening & Reception
Sponsored by KCCLA and Double Happiness Foundation
Synopsis: Lee Jung-Jae (Squid Game) makes his directorial debut. After a high-ranking North Korean official requests asylum, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park Pyong-ho (LEE Jung Jae) and Domestic Unit chief Kim Jung-do (JUNG Woo Sung) are tasked with uncovering a North Korean spy, known as Donglim, who is deeply embedded within their agency. When the spy begins leaking top secret intel that could jeopardize national security, the two units are each assigned to investigate each other. In this tense situation where if they cannot find the mole, they may be accused themselves, Pyong-ho and Jung-do slowly start to uncover the truth. In the end, they must deal with an unthinkable plot to assassinate the South Korean president…
Closing Film
Decision to Leave (South Korea, 138 mins)
Synopsis: A man falls from a mountain peak to his death. The detective in charge, Hae-joon (PARK Hae-il), comes to meet the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (TANG Wei). Seo-rae does not show any signs of agitation at her husband’s death. With her behavior so unlike that of a grieving relative, the police consider her a suspect.
Hae-joon interrogates Seo-rae, and while observing her on a stakeout, feels himself slowly developing an interest in her. Meanwhile the difficult-to-read Seo-rae, despite being suspected of a crime, acts boldly toward Hae-joon. A suspect who is hiding her true feelings. A detective who suspects and desires his suspect.
South Korea's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Screening includes Short Film: Creation
Centerpiece Films
WORLD PREMIERE - Decibel (South Korea, 110 Mins)
Sponsored by Shaw Entertainment Group, KCCLA, and Double Happiness Entertainment
Reach a certain DECIBEL and bombs will explode! Former Commander Kang Do-Young is revered as a national hero for saving many of his men in a submarine accident. One day, he receives a cryptic phone call informing him that a sound-sensitive explosive has been planted at a soccer stadium. When the crowd noise reaches a certain decibel, a bomb will be activated. In the nick of time, Commander Kang saves innocent lives but the terrorist remains intent on inflicting further casualties, including his wife and daughter. Now he must race against the clock to track down the terrorist and save his family. Amid this impossible task, dark secrets the Commander left buried in the sea resurface.
LA Premiere - Rebel (Belgium, 135 mins)
Sponsored by Festival International du Film de Bruxelles (FIFB)
Synopsis: When Kamal resolves to change his life for the better, he leaves Belgium to help war victims in Syria. But, having arrived, he is forced to join a militia and is left stranded in Raqqa. Back home, his younger brother Nassim quickly becomes easy prey for radical recruiters, who promise to reunite him with his brother. Their mother, Leila, fights to protect the only thing she has left: her youngest son.
30th Anniversary Celebration Screening
Heaven & Earth (USA/France, 140 mins)
Sponsored by KCCLA
Synopsis: Le Ly (Hiep Thi Le) lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones) who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married -- maybe to her.
A Film by Oliver Stone
Taiwan Film Day
Goddamned Asura (Taiwan, 114 mins)
Barco HDR Screening
Taiwan's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Sponsored by Ministry of Culture Republic of China (Taiwan) & Taiwan Academy in LA
Synopsis: On the night of his 18th birthday, Jan-Wen went on a random shooting spree in a crowded night market with his self-made modified gun for some mysterious reason. The tragic incident caused his family and friends, the victims, and the witnesses to all face a tremendous impact on their lives in the aftermath.
However, if there were a chance for these people to make different choices at the crucial moment, would the tragedy remain, or would there be a brand-new outcome?
This complex, multi-layered psychological drama delves into a random shooting homicide through six characters, a popular video game, an alternate reality, and a circle of reincarnations.
Philippines Film Day
US Premiere - On the Job: The Missing 8 (Philippines, 208 mins)
Barco HDR Screening - Followed by Q&A
Philippines' Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Sponsored by MyxTV and FilAm Creative
Synopsis: Inspired by true events, “The Missing 8” chronicles the story of Sisoy Salas, a corrupt journalist seeking justice for his colleagues, and convict Roman Rubio, a hired gun who is regularly brought out of prison to perform assassinations. Sisoy has always been a staunch defender of the government and the popular local mayor Pedring Eusebio. But when his colleagues from the local newspaper -including his long-time friend Arnel Pangan and his innocent son - go missing, Sisoy is forced to rethink his allegiances and confront his own political beliefs.
Vietnam Film Day
Kieu@ (Vietnam, 107 mins)
Synopsis: Kieu (or Thuy Kieu): is the name of a famous character in the poetic work "The Tale of Kieu" by the great poet Nguyen Du (1765-1820). "Kieu" or "Miss Kieu" is also slang, used to refer to girls who are unfortunate due to the lack of money and want to save their families and have accepted a life of prostitution in Vietnam. "Kieu @" refers to modern girls who are unfortunate, living at "the bottom" of modern society and taking advantage of prostitution, being despised—having no way out. This is The human dilemma that so many women have endured over the past 2500 years.
Kieu@ tells about Huong's life through her sister's soul, which was temporarily released from the body of Phan. In the subconscious of a dead person and full of resentment, Phan's soul searches for the past to find out why her sister pushed him to death. The film brings many arcs, emotional levels, and pain when drawing out the dark corners of modern Vietnamese society.
Sponsored by Ha Phuong Foundation
Official Selection
Ajoomma (Singapore, 90 mins)
Singapore's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Followed by Q&A
Synopsis: A middle-aged, Korean-drama-obsessed widow from Singapore travels out of the country for the first time to Seoul and ends up getting lost. Her journey becomes an unexpected road of self-discovery, as she comes to terms with the life she truly wants for herself, beyond her roles of daughter, wife, and mother.
Aurora's Sunrise (Armenia, 97 mins)
Followed by Q&A (11/10) w/ Director Inna Sahakyan
Armenia's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Synopsis: At only 14 years old, Aurora lost everything during the horror of the Armenian genocide. Four years later, through luck and extraordinary courage, she escaped to New York, where her story became a media sensation. Starring as herself in Auction of Souls, an early Hollywood blockbuster, Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history. With a blend of vivid animation, interviews with Aurora herself, and 18 minutes of surviving footage from her lost silent epic, Aurora’s Sunrise revives a forgotten story of survival.
Butterfly on the Windowpane (Nepal, 97 mins)
Nepal's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Synopsis: Bidya (13), a gifted student and aspiring poet, lives in a rural village in Nepal with her younger brother, BASANTA (9), and her single mother. She desperately wants to go to the city school to pursue her dream to study further and leave the conservative society she lives in. But when she fails to secure the first position in the school term, she loses her scholarship. She is reluctant to add a burden to her hard-working mother.
As time passes, Basanta witnesses his sister transform from a strong lady with aspirations to a quiet and helpless girl. He attempts to provide her with some hope and inspiration, by finding a magazine where Bidya’s poem has been published. But when he returns home with the magazine, risking his life, he witnesses a moment, completely unexpected.
Cinema Sabaya (Israel, 92 mins)
Followed by Q&A
Israel's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Synopsis: Nine women, Arab and Jewish, take part in a video workshop hosted by Rona, a young film director, who teaches them how to document their lives. With each raw homemade footage shot by the women and shared with the others, the group dynamic forces them to challenge their views and beliefs as they get to know each other and themselves better.
Jordan's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
LA Premeire - Farha (Jordan, 92 mins)
Synopsis: Farha (14 years old) lives in a village in Palestine in 1948. Girls her age are traditionally married, yet she dreams of continuing her education in the city with her best friend Farida. As she gets closer to her dream, the looming danger reaches her village, and Farha is brutally separated from Farida. Terrorized for his daughter’s safety, Farha’s father locks her up in a concealed, small storage room, promising to return. But he never does. Buried in the tight dark space, Farha’s only connection to the outside world is a small hole in the wall and a few cracks in the wooden door. What she witnesses inside and outside of the room forces a new path for Farha as her life-changing journey begins.
Home For Sale (Kyrgyzstan, 81 mins)
Kyrgyzstan’s Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Barco HDR Screening - Followed by Q&A
Synopsis: The touching, mutual love of newlyweds modestly raising a three-year-old daughter and expecting the birth of a second child, suddenly becomes more complicated due to the uncoordinated actions of husband and wife. The small, illiterate business of her husband leads them to a dead end - the goods sent by him abroad disappear at the border.
To repay the loan, the husband takes money from relatives - in return, promising to give the newborn child. Like a husband, without coordinating actions with her beloved, the wife wants to go abroad to work and has an abortion...
Goliath (Kazakhstan, 92 mins)
Synopsis: The Kazakh village Karatas has long been subjugated by a criminal boss called Poshaev. He provides housing and jobs for the locals but will ruthlessly execute anyone who dares to oppose him. This is the lesson the pauper Arzu is about to learn first-hand – his wife Karina has informed the police about the crimes that are taking place there. Arzu is a cripple; now he has to raise his little daughter alone. He is so helpless and grief-stricken that he doesn’t even seem to be contemplating revenge. Poshaev takes him under his wing and offers him the position of a guard at a building site. Soon Arzu has a chance to prove his loyalty, and he becomes Poshaev’s right hand. But where do Arzu’s real loyalties lie – with his boss or with the idea of justice?
Genre: Drama
LA Premiere - Joyland (Pakistan, 127 mins)
Pakistan's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Synopsis: In the heart of the metropolitan yet conservative city of Lahore lives the Rana family, a lower-middle-class joint family comprising of the old patriarch, the elder son and pregnant wife with three daughters, and the youngest son Haider and his wife Mumtaz. As the Rana’s eagerly anticipate the birth of a baby boy to continue their family line, Haider secretly takes up a job as a background dancer at an erotic theatre where he is drawn to an ambitious trans starlet, Biba. Slowly yet suddenly, Haider and Biba are engulfed in a secret summer romance that surreptitiously takes over his home, unraveling the dichotomy between desire and morality for the entire Rana family.
Kerr (Turkey, 101 mins)
Followed by Q&A w/ Dir. Tayfun Pirselimoğlu on 11/13
Synopsis: CAN is a sole witness of a murder in the town where he came for the funeral of his old father. The murderer showing no interest in CAN's presence quits the place, calmly. The police he applied to then, doesn't allow him to leave after his testimony. He meets various strange friends of his father in the town where he's trapped thereafter and some weird things happen right after another. On the other hand, a quarantine is declared due to rabid dogs being at large. The whole town turns into purgatory with no exit and is almost at the edge of insanity.
Barco HDR Screening - Followed by Q&A
Last Film Show (India, 112 mins)
India's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Synopsis: Set in the remote Indian countryside of 2010, young, free-spirited SAMAY's life turns upside down after watching a movie at the Indian Galaxy Cinema. He falls passionately in love with films, stealing money from his father’s struggling tea shop and skipping school to go to the movies. Samay and his gang passionately begin to create their own 35mm movie of their dreams. Soon Samay’s father discovers his nine-year-old son’s ‘immoral’ obsession with the movies and physically punishes him, warning him to stay away from the ‘filthy’ world of films. For Samay it is too late as he is already smitten with the world of movies. Continuing to pursue his obsession, Samay’s path crosses with FAZAL, the projectionist at the Galaxy Cinema. They strike a deal. Samay will let him eat the delicious food that his mother has lovingly made for him in return for Fazal letting him watch movies all day from the projection room. In no time their "food-for-films” deal turns into an endearing long- lasting friendship. Soon however, the unlikely duo will be forced to make heartbreaking choices as an era of change is sweeping through the country - and ultimately their dreams will be altered forever...
Kazakhstan's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Life (Kazakhstan, 170 mins)
Synopsis: The workplace of the protagonist Arman determines the system of values of people: all the precious memories of humanity are reproduced there: weddings, love stories, the birth of children, corporate holidays and documentaries about ancestors. When this material is removed, Arman becomes an indirect "murder of all Life, all Genesis." However, on the other hand, the fact that such videos are almost never watched some time after recording means the fleeting and fragility of life and our values. The characters that Arman meets become his companions, creating a kind of kaleidoscope of life. Each of them represents in some way part of the truth - as in Rumi's metaphor "truth as fragments of a broken mirror"...
Georgia's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
A Long Break (Georgia, 110 mins)
Synopsis: After 13 years, Tsitsi initiates a reunion of his former classmates with a seemingly harmless cause: they haven't seen each other since graduation and the reason for the gathering is to remember school and have a drink. However, Tsitsi has a secret motivation: he wants to punish his former classmate, Guga, who used to make life difficult for the entire class at school.
Several male classmates gather at the school to drink and talk; as their time together progresses, Tsitsi gets drunk and tries to accomplish his goal.
Mediterranean Fever (Palestine, 108 mins)
Palestine's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
Sponsored by IRA Capital
Synopsis: Repelled by outside interaction, Waleed’s attempts at isolation shatter with the arrival of a new neighbour, who disrupts his controlled world and forces him out of his shell. Loud and boisterous to the writer’s quiet introspection, the pair form an unlikely friendship. But as Waleed gets drawn into his newfound friend’s world of petty criminality, the motivation behind the burgeoning relationship is not all it seems and raises the question of who is manipulating whom. As tensions heighten between the pair, a hunting trip takes an unexpected and tragic turn.
US Premiere - World War III (Iran, 107 Mins)
Synopsis: Shakib is a homeless day laborer who never got over the loss of his wife and son in an earthquake years ago. Over the last couple of years, he has developed a relationship with a deaf and mute woman, Ladan. The construction site on which he works today turns out to be the set of a film about the atrocities committed by Hitler during WWII. Against all odds, he is given a movie role, a house, and a chance at being somebody. When Ladan learns about this, she comes to his workplace begging for help. Shakib’s scheme to hide her goes tragically wrong and threatens to ruin his newfound status and what seemed to be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Iran's Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards®
11/13 Screening Followed by Q&A
Signature Screening
Protector (Thailand, 90 mins)
Synopsis: Khamgon, a bank security guard finishing his night shift in the early hours of the morning, is asked by his wife, Mali, to buy some noodles and bring them home for her. This simple request triggers off an unexpected and extraordinary sequence of events, involving a President, spies and a group of assassins...
Genre: Action, Comedy
Happiness (Kazakhstan, 131 mins)
Synopsis: A woman is standing in front of the mirror. She is beautiful and has a striking face and strong cheekbones. She is bracing herself, the last vestige of self-respect driving her on. Her body is black and blue from the marks of many years of abuse. She swathes it in the orange dress that represents her working life. In this world, she is a successful influencer promoting a product line called “Happiness” that – as she demonstrates in her hypnotic sales pitches – is supposed to make women attractive and happy. But terror reigns at home; it even reigns in her newlywed daughter’s house too. A self-determined life is something about which a woman in Kazakhstan dares not even dream.
Genre: Drama
LA Premiere - Jacir (USA, 104 mins)
Synopsis: After surviving the Syrian war and becoming a refugee, Jacir, now resettled in a rough neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, is searching for a new life. He finds himself alone, without knowledge of the culture, and struggles with his poor English... far from the ideal new life he imagined. A strange new environment is the least of Jacir’s problems when he befriends a cat, Morty, which belongs to his next-door neighbor, Meryl, a conservative Caucasian lady who is an opioid-addicted shut-in and former blues singer. Jacir embarks on a journey to win the affection of a new love interest, Nadia, while dealing with her overzealous dad Adam; and measuring a newfound friendship with an African American rapper named Jerome. All the while, he must prove to Agent Simmons with I.C.E that his suspicions are unfounded.
Barco HDR Screening
Followed by Q&A (11/15) w/ Dir. Maryna ER Gorbach, Prod. Mehmet Bahduir ER, Actor Oksana Cherkashyna
Klondike (Ukraine, 100 mins)
Synopsis: July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, a disputed territory in the early days of the Donbas war. Their nervous anticipation of their first child’s birth is violently disrupted as the vicinal crash of flight MH17 elevates the forbidding tension enveloping their village. The looming wreckage of the downed airliner and an incoming parade of mourners emphasize the surreal trauma of the moment. As Tolik’s separatist friends expect him to join their efforts, Irka’s brother is enraged by suspicions that the couple has betrayed Ukraine. Irka refuses to be evacuated even as the village gets captured by armed forces, and she tries to make peace between her husband and brother by asking them to repair their bombed house.
US Premiere - Beirut Hold’em (Lebanon, 97 mins)
Synopsis: Ziko, a 40-year old ex-con is released from prison and wants to restart his life. He’s determined to win back Carole - the love of his life - and open up a gambling joint, locally known as an “Amusement Center.” He reunites with his boyhood friends who share his passion for gambling and runs into his dead brother’s friend. Ziko learns that his sibling perished on an illegal motorbike race, and decides to save his brother’s friend from the same deadly fate. Driven by a relentless will to succeed, Ziko sets out on a journey through contemporary post-war Lebanese society, a place made of a strange mixture of violence, tenderness, lightness of being and tension.
Sponsored by Jackson Market
LA PREMIERE - Junho (USA & South Korea, 103 mins)
Followed by Q&A w/ Director Seok Hoon (David) Boo & Actor Wonjun Jo
Synopsis: Juhno wanted nothing more than to be a great actor. But when his prestigious acting troupe in Korea is rocked by a #MeToo scandal, he escapes to San Francisco, to start a new life. Unlike Junho's attempt to overcome loneliness, isolation, and the loss of his best friend Jin, who was a victim of the scandal, his transgression from the past dislocates him from the present.
Scent of Wormwood (Kyrgyzstan, 92 mins)
November 16 Screening includes Short Film: Alaman
Synopsis: Three teenagers who live in a remote village nestled among the mountains spend their days playing merry games. Each of the teenagers in these games forgets about the problems in their families. But adult reality slowly creeps up on each of them. A reality where dads fight each other for a place in the sun or just get drunk. And mothers in the pursuit of happiness sometimes forget about the little ten-year-old happiness left at home. And children who do not know how to pray, like birds, pray for the happiness of their mother, and the love of their parents.
Scheme (Kazakhstan, 73 mins)
Synopsis: Masha is going through an adolescent crisis and distances herself from her family. She falls in love with Ram who invites her to party with other girls and offers some money for it. And if she brings new girls, she will be paid extra for each..
Genre: Drama
Chosen (USA, 89 mins) - Followed by Q&A
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: In 2020, five Korean Americans of diverse backgrounds with competing political views run for US Congress, as the unprecedented COVID-19, racial injustices and economic crisis continue to ravage the nation. Each candidate symbolizes a different narrative of the Korean American immigration experience, and while historic events like the 1992 LA Riots and the recent anti-Asian hate crimes serve to unify their voices, events such as BLM and Trump’s controversies amplify their divergent positions. With only one Korean American ever elected to US Congress prior to 2018, these five Korean Americans are determined to change history.
Sponsored by KCCLA
US Premiere - Looking for Luck (China, 91 mins)
Synopsis: The story revolves around two little people at the bottom of the society. In order to prove to his lover, Shi Yizhi, that he can give her happiness, Ma Tianyi takes his good brother, Xiaopang, and starts a business to make a lot of money. A hilarious journey of a bizarre adventure. In the prairie, the herdsmen scrambled for the unfinished building, went to Africa to train the Somali pirates to get rich, and strayed into the United States to save the hollow city of Detroit...
Genre: Comedy
LA Premiere - #Blue_Whale (Russia, 93 mins)
Synopsis: A provincial town is ravaged by a wave of inexplicable teen suicides. Rebellious and sharp-witted schoolgirl Dana grieves for her younger sister, a once-happy kid who suddenly withdrew and stepped in front of a train. Desperate to learn what happened, Dana explores her sister’s online history, discovering a sinister social media game that encourages teenagers to take a series of self-harm challenges. Beginning with actions designed to alienate them from friends and family, the challenge breaks its victims’ lives apart to push them past any point of return. Hungry for answers and out for revenge, Dana registers for the game, opening a doorway into the cruelest of hidden online worlds. One that will jeopardize the lives of everyone she cares about.
Followed by Q&A
LA PREMIERE - Wu Hai (China, 103 mins)
Synopsis: Yang Hua and Miao Wei form a happily married couple living in Wuhai, a small city surrounded by astonishing desert scenery in inner Mongolia. Yet, the husband, Yang Hua, often feels stressed over the financial differences between his and his wife’s families. He partners with his friend Luo Yu in commercial lending, but unfortunately, the business fails, and he becomes bogged down in debt. One day, Yang Hua’s family, friends, debt collectors, and debtors come one after another, depriving him of his last bit of dignity. On the darkest night, he feels helpless and hopeless.
Followed by Q&A
US Premiere - Ice World (China, 75 mins)
Synopsis: The stakes are high. The work can only start when the ice on the Songhua river is ready. They have 15 days from when the ice harvest begins to when they must finish Ice World. Shifts of farmers will work around the clock, seven days a week. All eyes are on them; much depends on their success. Of course, in any human endeavor, not all goes according to plan. They will have to overcome an event of nature that will threaten the very existence of Ice World!
Genre: Documentary
Master Sake Brewers (Japan, 115 mins)
Synopsis: Dreams dashed in Tokyo, Asuka Nagamine returns to her hometown in Hiroshima. Her parent’s home is a time-honored sake brewery inherited by a descendant of a master brewer, Senzaburo Miura. Though interested in sake brewing since her early childhood, Asuka, as an adopted daughter, had been avoiding taking over her family's business because she felt it was inappropriate. Having lost sight of her goal, Asuka comes across personal notes of Senzaburo Miura, which her father Ryoji had been keeping as a family heirloom.
Genre: Drama
World Premiere - The Resting Samurai (Georgia, 107 mins)
Synopsis: The story follows a family in socially tangled Tbilisi for 24 hours. A well-off family has everything perfectly tuned, even adultery. Tamuna, a busy woman about to leave for London and spend a few days with her lover tries to solve all the family issues before her departure.
Genre: Social Drama
World Premiere: Geshe Wangyal (Armenia, 76 mins)
Synopsis: This is a dramatic story about the incredible worldly and spiritual journey of a Buddhist monk from Russia who became one of the first scholars and preachers of Tibetan Buddhism in the USA. In 1923, as a young man, he left his home and spent over 30 years in Tibet and India, reaching the Buddhist scholarly degree of “Geshe.” He was a friend of the Dalai Lama and taught at Columbia University. He devoted his life to putting the teachings of Buddha into practice and trained a host of talented students, raising interest in Buddhism in the western world to a new level.
Followed by Q&A w/ Dir. Ella Manzheeva
Short Film Programs
HFPA Scholarship Short Film Program - AWFF Special Program
Followed by Q&A
Presented by Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Philippines Short Film Program - AWFF Special Program
Presented by FilAm Creatives
Young Filmmaker Showcase - AWFF Special Program
Sponsored by MoRedii
Philippines Short Film Program - AWFF Special Program
Presented by MyxTV