ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s DANCHEONG Competition and Silk Threads Awards, celebrating outstanding achievements in emerging Asian cinema.

The DANCHEONG Competition recognizes exceptional first and second feature films selected by our programming committee, honouring filmmakers who are painting bold new narratives in contemporary cinema.

DANCHEONG Competition Winners

• Grand Prix (Best Director) — Loney & Havender | Claudia Tuyết Scheffel @claudia.tuyet.scheffel

‍• Best Screenplay — In the Sea of Strange Thoughts | CHOI Jeongdan

• Best Actor — Loney & Havender | Tri Ân Bùi @tri.an.bui

‍• Best Cinematography — Broken Dawn | PARK Hae-Oh

• Best Editing — Dad vs Bees | David Quach @quachdavid

‍Silk Threads Awards

• Best Director — There Are No Words | Min Sook Lee @minsooklee‍

• Best Actor — The Final Semester | Yoo Yi-Ha

• Best Artistic Production — Only for a Day | Kyungbin Park

• Best Music Score — There Are No Words | Andrew Yong Hoon Lee @holyhum‍

Special Mentions

• Comme un fleuve (Như một dòng sông) | Sandra Desmazières

• Landscapes of Home | Alice ShinThe competition prizes reflect Arts East-West's interdisciplinary roots.

Each award is a handmade textile bookmark, conceived and designed by multidisciplinary artist Mi-Jeong Lee and sewn by artist Kim Mi-Ja. The bookmarks’ varied shapes are woven from new and recycled textiles, carrying both time and memory. Inspired by the vivid colours of Korean dancheong and the layered tradition of bojagi, the bookmark is itself a small artwork. This year, each bookmark is accompanied by two books honouring the authors who led MAiFF's writing workshop: Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park and Annapurna's Bounty by Veena Gokhale. Together, these works honour not only filmmakers, but the wider artistic community that makes cultural exchange possible.

Please join us in congratulating all of this year’s winners and special mention recipients.