Iraqi Director Halkawt Mustafa Big Winner at Asian World Film Festival in Culver City

CULVER CITY, CA -- A film directed by Iraqi director “Halkawt Mustafa was the big winner at the closing night of the Asian World Film Festival held in Culver City on Tuesday.

Mustafa won the "He Can Do, She Can Do, Why Not Me” Humanitarian Award" for the film "El Clásico" along with a $10,000 prize. The film was selected because it delivers a powerful message of courage, hope, healing and determination, the organization said.

Visionary Korean producer Keon-seop Park was also honored with the Cinematic Legacy Award. The award honors Park for the scope of his efforts to nurture, cultivate and build the Korean cinema into a successful industry in the 1990s and expand its horizons outside the Korean borders, according to the AWFF.

"Tonight's awards represent the very best of the Asian World Film Festival," AWFF's executive and program director Georges Chamchoum said. "We look forward to continuing to present films which are exciting, original, exceptional and inspiring."

The awards were presented during the closing night ceremony at the ArcLight theater in Culver City. The evening was hosted by Korean-American actor Ricky Kim and included remarks from Culver City mayor Jim B. Clarke.

Nearly 40 feature films were presented during the eight-day festival that included 20 foreign language Oscar contenders and a dozen Golden Globe submitted films.

The third Annual Asian World Film Festival is slated for Oct. 30 - Nov. 7, 2017.

The second Annual Asian World Film Festival winners include:

Best Picture
"El Clásico," directed by Halkawt Mustafa (Iraq)

Special Jury Prize
"Cold of Kalandar," directed by Mustafa Kara (Turkey)
Honorable Mention: "The Student," directed by Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)

Best Male Lead
Haydar Sisman, "Cold of Kalandar" (Turkey)

Best Female Lead - TIE
• Ji-min Han, "Age of Shadows" (South Korea)
• Victoria Isakova, "The Student" (Russia)

Best Musical Score
• "The Black Hen," composed by Jason Kunwar (Nepal)
• Honorable Mention: "Amanat," composed by Aktoti Ralmkulova (Kazakhstan)

Discretionary Jury Award for Courage in Storytelling
• "Redha," directed by Tunku Mona Riza (Malaysia)

Special Mention for Best Ensemble Cast
•"Very Big Shot" (Lebanon)

Audience Award
•"The Faith," directed by Garamkhand B. (Mongolia)

-- Photos courtesy of the AWFF