And the winners are...! Artist Awards at the 13th Montreal Asian International Film Festival (MAiFF) 2026

 

Arts East-West Celebrates Asian Filmmakers with Artist Awards at the 13th Montreal Asian International Film Festival North American Premiere of Vietnamese-German Filmmaker Claudia Tuyết Scheffel’s LONEY & HAVENDER Takes Grand Prix and Best Actor; Canadian Filmmaker Min Sook Lee Receives Silk Thread Award for Best Director Montreal, June 15, 2026 — An enthusiastic and generous public response to the 13th edition of the Montreal Asian International Film Festival has affirmed profound engagement for Asian film and culture in Montreal. The festival closed on Saturday with an Awards Ceremony marking two milestones: the inaugural Dancheong Competition and Silk Thread Awards, and a transformation from the Korean Film Festival Canada into an inclusive platform for all Asians. The Dancheong Grand Prix was awarded to Vietnamese-German filmmaker Claudia Tuyết Scheffel for her debut feature, Loney & Havender, screening its North American Premiere at MAiFF. The Silk Thread Award for Best Director went to Canadian filmmaker Min Sook Lee for There Are No Words, which screened its Quebec Premiere at MAiFF. The festival presented over 60 Asian arthouse films and events across nine Montréal venues under its 2026–2027 theme — Tangibility: Soil, Body, Stories — drawing audiences to works from Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Germany, Iran, Australia, the United States, and First Nations communities. DANCHEONG COMPETITION & SILK THREAD AWARDS 2026 marked the official launch of MAiFF’s two main artist awards. Named after dancheong (단청 / 丹靑), the ancient Korean art of painting wooden palaces with vivid colours, the Dancheong Competition honours emerging filmmakers who are painting bold new strokes through cinematic narratives. It specifically celebrates Asian and Asian-Canadian directors presenting their first or second films. The Silk Thread Awards are drawn from all festival sections, recognizing the rarest and freshest works in the festival as selected by the jury. Nine winners were selected across both competitions: DANCHEONG Competition: Grand Prix / Best Director — Claudia Tuyết Scheffel for Loney & Havender  Best Screenplay — Choi Jeongdan for In the Sea of Strange Thoughts Best Cinematography — Park Hae-Oh for Broken Dawn Best Actor — Tri Ân Bùi for Loney & Havender Best Editing — David Quach for Dad vs. Bees Silk Thread Awards: Best Director — Min Sook Lee for There Are No Words Best Actor — Yoo Yi-Ha for The Final Semester Best Artistic Production — Kyungbin Park for Only for a Day Best Music Score — Andrew Yong Hoon Lee for There Are No Words Special Mentions:  Sandra Desmazieres for Comme un fleuve  Alice Shin for Landscapes of Home  INTERNATIONAL JURY Awardees were selected by an international jury composed of industry professionals and artists. The invited jurors were Park Ri-Woong (Korea, Filmmaker, winner of the 2025 KFFC Best Director Award for Land of Morning Calm), William Dere (Quebec, Filmmaker and writer, films incl. Moving the Mountain and Etre chinois au Quebec), Yiou Wang (China/US, Media artist, co-founder of Mixanthropy Studio), and our student jury member Sarah-Maude Lemieux (Quebec, Film student, long-time volunteer with Arts East-West). The jury discussions to choose the winners were strikingly in-depth. When speaking about the Grand Prix winner, juror William Dere commented, “Loney and Havender presents an imaginative concept that depicts the plight of immigrants in the diaspora, and it is even more impressive that it is the director’s first feature-length film.” Yiou Wang spoke highly about the Silk Thread winner for Best Director, saying, “I was struck by the emotional intensity of There Are No Words. [Min Sook Lee] tries to reconcile with her deepest trauma by weaving these painful things into her artwork, while still managing to make it beautiful.” Park Ri-Woong praised the acting and storytelling in The Final Semester, the Silk Thread winner for Best Actor: “The film avoids cliches, telling the story of a very ordinary main character for two hours without ever feeling stretched out.” Jet Lag in Summer, which had its North American Premiere at MAiFF and was nominated for the Silk Thread Awards, also received praise from student juror Sarah-Maude Lemieux: “I loved how the film’s cinematography reflected the characterization. The story strongly developed each character.”  THE PRIZES The competition prizes reflect Arts East-West's interdisciplinary roots. Each award is a handmade textile bookmark, conceived and designed by multidisciplinary artist Mi-Jeong Lee and sewn by artist Kim Mi-Ja. The bookmarks’ varied shapes are woven from new and recycled textiles, carrying both time and memory. Inspired by the vivid colours of Korean dancheong and the layered tradition of bojagi, the bookmark is itself a small artwork. This year, each bookmark is accompanied by two books honouring the authors who led MAiFF's writing workshop: Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park and Annapurna's Bounty by Veena Gokhale. Together, these works honour not only filmmakers, but the wider artistic community that makes cultural exchange possible. UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS MAiFF 2026 received overwhelming interest from Montreal’s general public, with several screenings such as Iwai Shunji’s Love Letter and Xiaodan He’s Montreal, Ma Belle being fully sold out. The festival’s Closing Weekend, which took place June 12-14, included a panel discussion on the landscape of Asian-Canadian arts in Montreal and screened the closing film, Choi Jeongdan’s In the Sea of Strange Thoughts, at Cinema Moderne.  The sweeping response to the Dancheong Competition & Silk Thread Awards announcements led to many fresh faces attending the Encore Screening on June 14. The encore presented Claudia Tuyết Scheffel’s Loney and Havender, the Grand Prix winner, to a brand new audience that engaged positively with the director during the film’s Q&A.  As the 13th edition of MAiFF officially wraps up, audiences can still watch the free online screenings from the comfort of their homes. The retrospective on late Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki, titled “The Actor's Mirror: Ahn Sung-ki and the Female Lineage of Korean Cinema,” features 15 films in partnership with the Korean Film Archive which will be available to watch online from anywhere in the world until June 30, 2026.  ABOUT ARTS EAST-WEST Arts East-West, a nonprofit media arts organization, has been here in Montreal since 1995. This year marks a profound transformation from the Korean Film Festival Canada into MAiFF, the Montreal Asian International Film Festival. The festival keeps the same roots while boldly expanding our vision — embracing all of Asia and all Asian-Canadian voices, while keeping Korean cinema at its heart. The new motto says it simply: UNBOUND.   The 14th MAiFF is scheduled May 27 – June 13, 2027 www.artseastwest.ca