2026 Festival Competition

Now in its second year, our Festival Competition features a juried selection of films competing for the Grand Jury Feature Film Award, Best Short Film Award, Best Animated Feature Award and the Francis Kwong Memorial Award, which honors the Best New Director’s 1st and 2nd feature.

Grand Jury Feature Film Award

BLUE BOY TRIAL
Director Kasho Iizuka

Hello everyone—good afternoon
My name is Kasho Iizuka, and I am the director of Blue Boy Trial. I am truly honored and grateful to receive this
prestigious award for our film.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the screening of Blue Boy Trial in person, but from Japan, I have been
wondering how audiences in the United States have been reacting to the film.

I understand that in the U.S. today, there are difficult social changes and public conversations that can be discouraging—particularly around prejudice and discrimination against minorities. If our film can offer even a small sense of support or encouragement for people as they face tomorrow, that would mean a great deal to us.

Allow me to briefly speak about our film.

Blue Boy Trial is a story about sexual minorities, created by members of the sexual minority community themselves. In Japan, undertaking a project like this has been extremely challenging. However, little by little, supporters and allies came together, and this film became a reality. I believe this represents an important step in the history of Japanese cinema.

Receiving this award will undoubtedly encourage me in my future work, and it will also give courage to the actors who appeared in the film—actors who are themselves members of sexual minorities. For this, I am deeply thankful.

In Japan today as well, issues surrounding sexual minorities, immigrants, and other marginalized communities are becoming increasingly visible as society continues to change. In times like these, I believe in the power of cinema—and I continue to hope, both as a filmmaker and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, that those who find life difficult can reach across borders and support one another.

Let us continue to face these challenges together through film. And when you feel tired or uncertain, I hope you might turn to our work.

I sincerely wish for peace and kindness in the days ahead for everyone gathered here today. Once again, thank you very much for this wonderful honor.

Warm regards,
Kasho Iizuka, from Japan

Francis Kwong Memorial Award (Best New Director)

FRAGMENT
Director Kim Sung-Yoon

I never imagined I would receive an award, so this unexpected news makes me extremely grateful, happy, and delighted.I feel proud that the messages I wanted to convey through “Fragment” seem to have touched the hearts of people beyond Korea, and it motivates me to work even harder. Like the line in the film, I send my support and encouragement to the many people who live each day waiting for the moment they can endure, and to all of us who have taken a moment to reflect on them.


Today, with especially light and joyful steps, I’m heading to the editing room once again! I eagerly—so eagerly—look forward to meeting you again with my next story. Thank you again for inviting me to the Asian Pop Up Cinema. A BEST NEW DIRECTOR AWARD! It's unbelievable! Thank you so much.

KimSungYoon_Director

Best Short Film Award

HEALTH CENTER
Director Yaser Barzegar

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Asian Pop-Up Cinema festival in Chicago and the esteemed jury for recognizing our film.

I hope that in these times, when politics and those in power are often driven by their own interests, culture—through the language of art—can continue to share the common pain of humanity and remain a source of solace for human suffering. This isn’t a story… This is the reality of life for so many women in my country. A reality where your body isn’t fully yours. So I dedicate this film to the women of my country, my mother, and my wife.

Sincerely
Yaser Barzegar
Director of “Health Center“

Best Animated Feature Award

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME
Directors Yu Ao & Zhou Tienan

No official acknowledgment has been received from the filmmakers.

COMPETITION FILMS

SCREENINGS FEATURING COMPETITION SHORTS

BLUE BOY TRIAL

Competing for the Grand Jury Feature Film Award
Narrative and Documentary Feature

  • Eiji Uchida’s THE SPECIALS (Japan)

  • Leon Le’s KY NAM INN (USA/Vietnam)

  • Ong Kuo Sin’s A GOOD CHILD (Singapore)

  • Kasho Iizuka’s BLUE BOY TRIAL (Japan)

  • Mipo O’s HOW DARE YOU (Japan)

HEALTH CENTER

Competing for the Best Short Film Award
Narrative/Animation Short and Documentary

  • Ananth Subramaniam’s BLEAT! (Malaysia/The Philippines)

  • Helen Lee’s TENDERNESS (Canada/South Korea)

  • Giran Findlay-Liu’s YEAR OF THE DRAGON (Canada)

  • Yaser Barzegar’s HEALTH CENTER (Iran)

FRAGMENT

Competing for the Francis Kwong Memorial Award
Recognizing the best new director (first or second feature film) with a Cash Prize of $2,000 US.

  • Kim Sung-yoon’s FRAGMENT (South Korea)

  • Roh Young-wan's HALO (South Korea)

  • Tam Wai Ching’s SOMEONE LIKE ME (Hong Kong)

  • Lloyd Lee's LUCKY LU (USA/Canada)

  • Yeum Moon-Kyoung & Lee Jong-min’s THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH (South Korea)

  • Yuriyan Retriever’s MAG MAG (Japan)

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME

Competing for the Best Animated Feature Award
Animation Feature Film

  • Yu Ao & Zhou Tienan’s THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME (China)

  • Wenyu Li’s A STORY ABOUT FIRE (China)

Meet Our Distinguished Jury

  • Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa President of the Jury


    Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa is a filmmaker, educator, and festival advisor and curator. 

    She is professor emerita of the School of Film and Television at Columbia College Chicago, where she taught Film Production and Film Studies. Mehrnaz has written and published extensively on Iranian cinema. Her book on Abbas Kiarostami, co-written with Jonathan Rosenbaum (2nd edition in 2017) has been translated into many languages. . She is theArtistic Advisor and Co-Founder of the Annual Festival of Films from Iran at the Gene Siskel Film Center Chicago since 1989.  

    Additional Info: 

    (She received an award for 30 year of work as the founder andArtistic Consultant of Festival of Film from Iran, Gene Siskel Film Center, Fall 2019) 

    Mehrnaz is an award-winning filmmaker. Some of her films including A Tajik Woman and for Jerry and Me, The Silent Majority,  Saless, Far From Home, and A House is Not a Home have been screened in several domestic and international film festivals. 

    Mehrnaz has served both as jury for many festivals including, Annual Student Academy Award Regional Competition (from 2008 to 2013),  Chicago International Films Festival, International Children’s Film Festival, International Film School Film Festival in Tetouan, Morocco, Big Muddy Film Festival, International Film Festival (of the National Autonomous University of Mexico,) FICUNAM in Mexico City, and Chicago Feminist Film Festival. 

  • Barbara Scharres, Juror


    Barbara Scharres is currently Artistic Director for the Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival.  In addition, she works as a consultant for private clients including filmmakers and distributors, and as a freelance journalist for outlets including RogerEbert.com. 

    Scharres retired as Director of Programming for the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after 45 years over which her role included developing and implementing one of the largest year-around public programs of world cinema in North America.  She founded and oversaw the growth of annual projects including the Hong Kong Film Festival, the ChicagoEuropean Union Film Festival, and the Black Harvest Film Festival.    

    In 2006, the French government awarded Scharres one of its highest honors by designating her a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.  She was named a "Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts" by the Chicago Tribune three times: in 1989; 1991; and 1999, and has been profiled in publications including Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, and Variety. 

    She has published feature articles and criticism in film magazines and journals including Film Comment, American Cinematographer, the ChicagoReader, Variety, The Independent, the ChicagoSun-Times, and www.RogerEbert.com, an outlet for which she regularly contributed extensive coverage of the Cannes Film Festival.  She has contributed to books including Hong KongBabylon, edited by Fred Dannen; John Woo Interviews edited by Robert K. Elder; and Woo: Leben und Werk (published in German) edited by Thomas Gaschler and Ralph Umard.    

    Scharres has given individual lectures on Asian cinema at institutions including Yale University; Columbia University; the China Institute, New York; and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  She has expertise in the development of ethnic community audiences and has consulted for other media programs and educational institutions.  She has served on media arts panels for entities including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Minnesota Arts Board. 

  • Karen Severns, Juror


    Karen Severns has worked in New York and Tokyo as a journalist, filmmaker, critic and curator. She has produced numerous industrials, art/architecture videos and short films, including Oscar nominee One Day Crossing and the feature-length documentary Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buildings and Legacy in Japan. She holds an MS in Journalism and an MFA in Film from Columbia University and has written widely on topics ranging from film to architecture to travel in Asian and other publications. Karen taught film and writing courses for a decade at Waseda University and Temple University Japan and is currently a visiting professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. She has been the film series curator at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan since 2008 and was a programmer for the New York Asian Film Festival from 2015-2025. She is a founding partner of Tokyo-based KiSMet Productions, a boutique film production and promotion company involved in a range of transnational projects.  

Jury Coordinator: Ron Falzone

Travel and accommodation for Severns made possible by The Japan Foundation, New York.