Wo Ai Ni Mommy, Mochi, Miss Kicki, The Prodigy and 9500 Park are among the 2010 Asian American International Film Festival Award Winners

Wo Ai Ni Mommy, Mochi, Miss Kicki, The Prodigy and 9500 Park are among the 2010 Asian American International Film Festival Award Winners

As the 33rd Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF10) came to a close on Wednesday, July 21 at the Chelseas Clearview Cinemas in New York City, actors Louis Ozawa Changchien and Karin Anna Cheung presented awards to five lucky filmmakers before the festivals Closing Night screening of Quentin Lees The People Ive Slept With.

Adam Lee, director of the short film The Prodigy, received The One To Watch Award, which recognizes filmmakers under the age of 21 who demonstrate promise and talent in the discipline of filmmaking. Lees short film follows the painstaking process of a piano prodigy as she strives to further perfect her art.

Taiwanese director Chung Lee won the Excellence in Short Filmmaking Award, which was accepted on his behalf by his wife Annie Hsu. Lees short film Mochi explores the tangled and complex relationship between Yulia, a live-in caretaker, and her antagonizing employer, a bitter old man whose offensive behavior alienates himself from his only son.

The award for Best Emerging Director in Documentary Feature went to Stephanie Wang-Breal for Wo Ai Ni Mommy, a documentary that follows a young Chinese girls transition from China to her adoptive home in Long Island, New York.

Swedish-Taiwanese filmmaker Hakon Liu received the award for Best Emerging Director in Narrative Feature for Miss Kicki, a story that follows a middle-aged Swedish woman and her estranged teenage son through their misadventures in Taipei.

Eric Byler and Annabel Parks 9500 Liberty won the Audience Choice Award. Byler and Parks film focuses on debates of immigration law through the policy debates in a West Virginian town.

The ceremony closed with Gina Chun accepting her reward for the CinemaMe Short Film Competition. The contest, sponsored by Toyota, asked non-professional filmmakers to offer their take on Asian American film in under five minutes. Chun will be awarded a grand prize of $3,000 for her film The Receiver, a video diary that recounts a conversation between an aspiring filmmaker and her disapproving grandmother.