* Please note that we do NOT provide waivers and discounts. Sorry about it; thank you for your understanding.

To enter the main competition, your project must have a director, writer, producer, or talent of Asian descent to be eligible for awards.

All the works submitted in foreign languages MUST have English subtitles.

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Los Angeles Asian Film Awards, originally called Las Vegas Asian Film Awards (LVAFA), was an independent festival that resides beneath the umbrella of AOF MegaFest, which is in its 19th year and is the largest film event of its kind in the world. Held in Las Vegas at the Premiere Theaters and Locations, the show regularly exceeds 20,000 guests and attendees.

After a first successful annual event in Las Vegas with the legendary AOF MegaFest in the summer of 2021, the event moved to Los Angeles, the center of the world film industry.

Los Angeles Asian Film Awards is now presented by Power of Film Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping minority filmmakers to have their voices heard. As a result, opportunities at Los Angeles Asian Film Awards are like no other in the world; the event puts magnificent resources together and offers a wide variety of distributors, industry guests, seminar speakers, and panelists.

We invite you to join Festival Director, award-winning filmmaker Lureen Wu and Judge President Roger Christiansen ("Friends," "Hannah Montana," "Tango Down") as they bring you a selection of pure Asian Cinema for Screenings and Awards.

The situation surrounding COVID-19 has caused much pain in the film and entertainment industries, and no group has been affected more than Asian Filmmakers, Writers, and Creators. Los Angeles Asian Film Awards is a hub and platform for Asian filmmakers to shine.

Festival Director Lureen Wu was born and raised in Shanghai, China. She worked as a TV director in Shanghai for years, including TV documentaries, commercials, celebrity talk shows, and music videos. Early in her career in Shanghai, Lureen worked with the Emmy Award-winning television interviewer, Nancy Merrill, in the English talk show "Nancy Merrill: Minds of Millionaires" on the international channel of Shanghai TV Station(SMG) and CCTV NEWS.

After moving to the United States, Lureen continued pursuing her career in film. She worked with filmmakers who are part of best-known movies and TV shows such as Friends, Les Misérables(2012), The Big Bang Theory, Saw, Sex and The City, Iron Man 2, Grey's Anatomy, The Princess Diaries, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones......

Our Festival is open to ALL Asian filmmakers, talents, and writers of all genres and lengths.

Selected Projects receive:
Selection Laurels
All-Access Pass to Los Angeles Asian Film Awards (excluding Award Shows, Private or Charity events/screenings)

Winners will receive the following:
Trophies
Winner Laurels

Nominees will receive the following:
Nominee Laurels

We are Accepting submissions for feature Narrative and Documentary, short Narrative and Documentary, Music Videos, TV Commercials, short/feature scripts. All genres are welcome. The festival programming staff will place your film in the appropriate category.
To Enter for Competition your film or Project must have a writer, producer, talent or director of Asian descent in order to be eligible for awards.

All the works submitted in foreign languages MUST have English subtitles.

All entries will be judged on the content, creativity, imagery, story, and skill of the filmmaker. Accepted films must be exhibited on an MPEG4 film file. Screeners must be free of ghost images/logos or other images. If the required screening MPEG4 files are not received by the deadline date. the film will be pulled and disqualified. NO EXCEPTIONS. It is the submitter's responsibility to ensure LAAFA has the REQUIRED screening materials by the due date.

PAL SYSTEM IS NOT ACCEPTED.
All Accepted Films must be submitted on MPEG4 for Exhibition.
We will NOT accept online Films for exhibition screening.
Screeners must be free of ghost images/logos or other images.
Each entry must be submitted separately.

Every Entry must include an Electronic Press Kit and Downloadable Trailer and trailer link ( if available).
We do not screen FilmFreeway uploads.
If sending a DCP we will still require a back up MPEG4.
Please notify us by email of any address changes.
Failure to provide screening materials will result in disqualification and the film being pulled from screening.

Written Word Submission Rules
We are currently accepting written word submissions for features, shorts, short shorts, scenes, poetry, and prose.
All genres are welcome.
One copy of an original feature film screenplay uploaded as a PDF file will be accepted. (Do NOT include more than 1 version). We do not accept hardcopy scripts.
The screenplay should be in standard industry format (12 point Courier).
Only one copy, draft or version of any screenplay may be submitted by an entrant or entrants per submission.
Under no circumstances will substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of an entry screenplay be allowed under the original submission.
Corrected or edited screenplays must be resubmitted as a NEW entry and will require a separate submission fee.

Multi-part scripts should be submitted as separate, stand-alone screenplays.

Features that are over 120 pages must be submitted as 2 different entries.

Entry fees will not be returned or adjusted.

Submissions must be in English.

Multi-part scripts should be submitted separately. Each part submitted as a separate, stand-alone screenplay.
Submissions must be the original work of the entrant(s) and may not be based, in whole or in part, on any other fiction or nonfiction material, published or unpublished, produced or un-produced.
Entries may, however, be adapted from the entrant’s (or entrants’) original work, which should be noted in the log line required on the application form.
Entries lacking a log line on the application form will be disqualified.
If the script is based on a true story, historical or contemporary, the "based on true story/events" button should noted in the logline.
Collaborative work by two writers who share equally in its creation is eligible.
The collaborator’s name must be added during the online application process.

We do not ship Awards.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Mingzhu Ye

    So honored to be awarded in LAAFA! It was a wonderful experience to attend this high quality film festival!

    June 2023
  • A truly enjoyable experience. Lureen and her team worked so hard to make this event welcoming and useful to all who attended. I benefited from making some wonderful connections, and was nominated for an award! The only critique I have would be that the schedule needed more space in between events. Events ran overtime and it was difficult to tell my supporters when to show up for my screening as a result.

    December 2022
  • The film festival became the most wonderful memory of 2022.
    Thank you.

    December 2022
  • Sophie Whittemore

    A wonderful film festival. So honored "Don't Tell Mother" was awarded. Really amazing filmmakers and panelists present. The festival directors truly care and love their craft and the community!

    November 2022
  • This was my first film festival. They were great with communication, quick responses to any problems I came across. Very cool experience overall. Thank you LAAFF for everything!

    November 2022