The annual Asian-American TV & Film Festival’s Golden Oak Awards Ceremony was hosted by the Asian-American TV & Film Alliance on October 28, 2019 at the Symphony Space Theater in Manhattan.

The Golden Oak Awards recognize outstanding TV and film works and the extraordinary contributions made by individual talents in the film and television industry both in China and through joint ventures. The award categories ranged from Best Independent Film of the Year, Best Television Program, Best Producer, Best Screenwriter, to Best Director, most Promising Actor/Actress and Best Actor/Actress, among others, across 26 categories.

Numerous influential production agencies from China such as Huace Media, Mango Studios, and others participated in the competition for the 2019 Golden Oak Awards. Nominated TV series and films spanned a wide range of subject matters and genres.

Nominated for the Best Film award in their respective categories were: The Wandering Earth, Send Me to the Clouds, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Advance Wave upon Wave, The Game Changer, Invisible Fist, Open the Gate to the World, and Snow Monster.

The Wandering Earth, The Game Changers, Snow Monster and others won Best Film.  The Peanut Butter Falcon received the award for the best independent film. High quality and high viewership TV series earned awards for Best Television Program and included productions such as, Those Years, Love's Lies, The World is Not Fraudulent, Mai Xiang, Anti-Terrorism Special Forces: The Wolves, and Lovely China.

Online programs like Boys to Men, A Little Love Song, and Hello, Rapper (Season 2) also won 2019 Golden Oak Awards. The organizing committee, the Asian-American TV & Film Alliance, received recognition from New York State assemblyman Felix Ortiz for their significant contribution to cultural exchanges in entertainment.

Jerome Perzigian, co-chairmen of the festival, emphasized that in its third year the Asian-American TV and Film Festival welcomed more creative and larger scale works than in previous programs, receiving over 200 major television and film applications from China and parts of the US for the 2019 Awards. For 2020, a greater effort is planned to draw the participation of more American works in order to fulfil the mission of embracing different cultures.

Established by the Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer Jerome Perzigian, entertainment veterans Jun Qian and Jun Li, and 2016 Pulitzer finalist Yuhan Liu, the Asian-American TV & Film Festival served as the platform for cultural exchanges between the east and the west. The festival supports collaboration by connecting Asian and North American television and film industries through high-level events. The Asian-American TV & Film Alliance also organized a forum, focused on creative and production issues, at the Harvard Club on October 27, 2019 to kick off the festival. This year the Golden Oak Awards festival attracted close to 900 participants, a number growing larger each year.  

Core members of the Asian-American TV & Film Alliance include Jerome Perzigian, Jun Qian, Charles Sullivan, Felix Ortiz, Yuhan Liu, Claus Mueller (myself), Hope Hou and Jun Li.

Claus Mueller   filmexchange@gmail.com