LA WEBFEST - International Film Festival Partners

 

1. Septimius Awards - Amsterdam https://septimiusawards.com/

2. Jaipur International Film Festival - India https://www.jiffindia.org/

3. Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest - Germany http://www.berlinscifi.com/

LAWEBFEST 2023 - Organizers & Board Members

 

LAWEBFEST 2022 - Organizers & Board Members 

• Founder
  Michael Ajakwe Jr. (October 12, 1965 - May 31, 2018)
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  Michael Okwudili Ajakwe Jr. (October 12, 1965 – May 31, 2018) was an American television, theatrical, and film writer and producer. The creator of the world's first web series festival and the founder of LAWEBFEST (Los Angeles Web Festival). Prior to the year of his death, Beauty and the Baller, a nine-episode comedy series that he created, produced, and directed outside of the studio system, was licensed to Viacom, which premiered on Centric TV in 2017.
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• Honorary President
  Tammy Ajakwe

• Honorary Chairman
  Jean-Michel Albert

Jean-Michel is the founder/artistic director of the Marseille Web Fest, which since its creation in 2011 has aimed to promote and embody series from around the world, as a spokesperson for this new popular and ultra-creative art. From 2016 to 2022, he was also responsible for the Canneseries short-form competition.

He is responsible for development at Darklight Content, a French horror film and/or series production company, and also executive producer for the company TamTam Stories, which he co-created in 2019. In 2022, he joined "Les Humanoïdes Associés" as executive producer.

• Festival Director
  Young Man Kang
  

Young Man Kang directed several feature films and over 10 web series. All feature films have been released on VOD in Netflix and Amazon in the US, and have sold in 15 countries. He has a total of 30 awards from a number of film festivals and webfests.

Young Man Kang collaborated with fellow film "Avatar" alumni, Just Cause 3D, on his "4D Experience" Project. His latest series “Lotte Haus” won 10 awards and selected over 30 film festivals.
He is a founder of the Kwebfest (Seoul Webfest) & Asia Web Awards. 

• Vice President
  Rich Halke

Professor Rich has written or consulted on a wide range of film, television, advertising, animation, interactive, VR, and multi-platform projects for ABC, ABC Family, NBC, CBS, The Disney Channel, Disney.com, Touchstone Television, Fandango.com, Hasbro, FOX, and The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He has consulted/lectured/served on panels for The Broadcast Education Association, Digital Hollywood, The Warner Bros. Writers Workshop, NPR, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA’s Masters Television Writing Program, The University of Miami Film Department, Columbia College of Chicago, Rio Webfest, Buenos Aires Webfest, DC Webfest, and he’s been quoted by multiple news sources, including the WGA’s "Written By" magazine and "The Wall Street Journal". He is a founding board member of The Los Angeles Web Series Festival, an advisory board member of The Marseille Webfest, and lead instructor of The Marseille Digital Writers Residency.  Prof. Rich has also had the honor of serving as a nominator for The Sundance Institute / YouTube New Voices Lab.

• Festival Advisor
  Joel Bassaget
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  International Relations
  Melodie Everson
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  Chairman of the Board
  Thomas Kim
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  Board Member
  Neem Basha

Neem Basha began his film career training under the tutelage of Emmy-Award winning writer Barry Goldsmith (“The Joan Rivers Show”).  Neem went on to become a 19-time award winning writer/director/producer, starting with his full-length feature film “Ten-Buck Baton,” which was screened at multiple film festivals in 2013 and won four awards -- including Best Feature Film at the New York/Los Angeles International Film Festival. 

Since then, Neem has been at the helm of several successful projects. His varied portfolio includes feature films, music videos, commercials, government PSAs, and short films, including “Home Invasion” and “Repentance,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Neem’s latest and most successful production is his smash hit “Neem’s Themes,” an internationally award-winning sketch comedy series with over 30 crowd-pleasing episodes. More projects are in the pipeline for 2022 and beyond! 

Neem’s work has been seen by well over 40 million people - on The Big Screen, on digital media, and on platforms such as Hulu, NYC cable stations, and others.  His award portfolio is varied, having won awards for his directing and writing, a People’s Choice Award from an international audience in Valencia, Spain, and a filmmaking Achievement Award in Seoul, Korea, among others. 

Neem brought his background and expertise to the New Jersey Web Festival, which went on to become one of the best-reviewed festivals on Film Freeway. He enjoys greeting creators from all over the world for this annual tradition, while also continuing to produce varied and crowd-pleasing productions of his own. Neem is thrilled to join the Los Angeles Web Fest as a board member.

• Board Member
  Kathie Fong Yoneda

Kathie Fong Yoneda is an entertainment consultant specializing in development and marketing of live action and animated film, television, literary, and web projects. A former exec at Disney, Touchstone, Island Pictures and Disney TV Animation, she has taught workshops in over 20 countries worldwide. Kathie is an original board member for LAWebfest and has worked closely with Jean Michel Albert, founder of the Marseille

Webfest. She is the author of The Script-Selling Game, 2nd edition (Michael Wiese Productions) and has mentored writers for the Rocaberti Retreats in Europe. She exec produced the series Beyond The Break as

well as the acclaimed live action short 30 Minutes, the web series The Big O and worked with author Heather Morris on her award-winning novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

• Board Member
  Frederic Josue

Frederic Josue is a media and entertainment specialist, CEO of 18M.io.

He works for Ferrero, BNPParibas, Orange, French Ministery of Education.

International Innovation Expert dealing with technology. Professor at the Political Sciences Institute of Paris, a class on Tech and Content Platforms Strategy. His skills are public speaking, writing, marketing, consulting. He received Emmy Award and he has clients BNP, Paribas Fortis, Orange.

• • Board Member
    Pamela Jaye Smith 

Pamela Jaye Smith is a Mythologist, Author, international Consultant-Speaker, and award-winning Writer-Producer-Director with thirty plus years experience in features, TV, commercials, documentaries, web series, XR projects, music videos, corporate and military films – in Hollywood and around the world. 

She is on the Board of Advisors for the LAWEBFEST, has presented at the Marseille WebFest, and is a frequent jurist for screenplays and film festivals.

• Board Member (Podcasts) 
  Mike Atchley
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Born in Casper, Wyoming, Mike Atchley is a passionate actor, musician, artist, and author.  He is most known as the narrator, composer and producer of Dice Tower Theatre from Good Ham Productions and his voice has appeared in other audio works such as Aethuran Dark Saga, Ninth World Journal and Chronicles of Eridul. His experience as an audio engineer on recordings and live performances has extended for over 30 years both DIY and as a professional.  Mike believes in promoting the audio community both as a supporter and as a contributor; and share it with those who may have never experienced the magic of audio adventures.

Asia Web Awards 2022 the 6th Edition - Official Selections

 

Asia Web Awards 2022 the 6th Edition - Official Selections 

INTERNATIONAL
7 years art from Berlin "BrückenKunst" 2019	Germany
A Hum of Shadows	South Korea
Abracadavers: S2	Canada
Actresses’ Diary S6	South Korea
ADAPTATION	United States
All In Love	South Korea
ANA (I AM)	Lebanon
Are you Amir Shah?	United States
Baek-song	South Korea
Broke Rookie Star	South Korea
Come On, welcome to the bible world	South Korea
Critically Ashamed Vol. 2	United States
Death Doula	Australia
Find me if you can	South Korea
FORNICAKES	United States
FRIENDMATES	Russia
Girl Dad	United States
I hope to find you better at the end	Brazil
I love you, Daddy	South Korea
I said I had a dream	South Korea
JajangMyeon Thank You	South Korea
Like in Movies S2	Japan
Love Touch	Brazil
Main Street	South Korea
Night Witches	Kazakhstan
Nothing Personal	Russia
Pathways: when dreams meet education	Brazil
Pops	Russia
Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam	India
Remedy of Love	United States
Scent of Love	South Korea
Shakespeare By Half Light	United Kingdom
SHIFT	United States
Sloppy Jones	Canada
Stupid Wife	Brazil
Tape	France
The Cab' - S2	France
The Eve	Italy
The Madness of George King	United States
The one that came from the 10th floor	Brazil
The Tall Bike Joust	United States
The Waiting room	Brazil
TUTOPIQUE #SPLEEN	France
Two different Woojoo	South Korea
Unframed: Paul Klee, Hand puppets	Switzerland
You've Forgotten	Brazil
PODCASTS
Dice Tower Theatre	United States
Doomed To Repeat	United States
Kakos Industries (Podcasts)	United States
Outgrowth	United States
Tales from Three Corners (Podcasts)	Australia

 

 

Asia Web Awards 2022 the 6th Edition - Nominations

Will be announced soon! Stay Tuned!!

Live Streaming on Youtube channel
Saturday 8:30pm, November 26 - Korea Time 
 

 

 

Kimchi Warrior in the "Kimchi Day"

 

“Kimchi Warrior” in the "Kimchi Day"

The Kimchi Warrior will hold a Kimchi Warrior character cosplay event on Hollywood streets to celebrate the 2nd “Kimchi Day” on November 12, Saturday 3pm thru 5pm. 

The US state of California officially designated November 22, 2021 as “Kimchi Day”. The resolution explained the origin of kimchi, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, and the traditional culture and manufacturing process of kimchi. In addition, kimchi contains probiotics, calcium, and vitamins, which improve the body's immunity. The purpose of this resolution is to unify the Korean community and celebrate the date in the state where 32% of the Korean American population lives.

In addition, it will be an opportunity to introduce kimchi to the American market through various events on Kimchi Day every year.

At the forefront of kimchi promotion at such a time, there is the animated character Kimchi Warrior, who has been promoting steadily for 12 years through online YouTube and Social media.

A Kimchi Warrior character with a green cabbage and red pepper costume, and a band of cabbage leaves attached to his head. In the United States, there is Popeye who eats spinach and exerts superpowers, while in Korea there is Kimchi Warrior who eats special kimchi and uses super powers to defeat virus and diseases. 

In a world dominated by Marvel characters so far, the Kimchi Warrior is the first Korean native character as a superhero.

The Kimchi Warrior is a web series 2D animation created by Korean American director Young Man Kang who was active in Hollywood in 2010 and uploaded to YouTube.

It is a flash-style, low-budget animation with a B-grade comic element added for online users. 

The creator Young Man Kang said that “This will be great promotional tool for the Kimchi Day, because of the Kimchi Warrior animation character and cosplayer has already a lot of fan bases through social media. This is the time to join with other Marvel characters in Hollywood Blvd. Who knows, some day the Avengers Team is calling to the Kimchi Warrior to join as a team member.” 

<The End>

What can you tell me about Kimchi Warrior?  Is it an animation series exclusive for the Internet? Where can we see Kimchi Warrior?
How many episodes are in this series? Who produced it? What animation techniques were used for this production? What kinds of difficulties did you encounter in creating Kimchi Warrior?

Kimchi is one of the world’s top 5 healthiest foods.  It is believed it even prevented the outbreak of SARS in South Korea. Kimchi’s probiotics protect the body against even the worst viruses and bacteria.

So when I was developing a new character for my animation, I wanted to promote Kimchi and Tae Kwon Do into the world of entertainment.  This was the birth of the Kimchi Warrior superhero.

Based on the premise of Popeye, Kimchi Warrior obtains supernatural powers by eating Kimchi.  He strives to defend our health from the world’s most notorious diseases like Swine Flu, Mad Cow Disease, Malaria, SARS etc.
  

Kimchi Warrior has received international recognition and is currently live on YouTube with 15 episodes. You can find episodes of Kimchi Warrior at www.KimchiWarrior.com or just search “Kimchi Warrior” on YouTube.

The animation’s production company, YMK Films of Los Angeles, and Young Man Kang, the producer/director, has also received many awards.

With only a limited number of animators in both Los Angeles and India, the team was still able to produce 15 episodes within a year.  The animation uses 2D animation with Flash, Photoshop, and After Effects. Only one character, the giant robot Onggi Bot, is in 3D.  He was created by the very talented Christopher Nadolski, an animator who received an Academy Award for his visual effects in The Life of Pi. 

We cast all voice-over actors in Hollywood.  One noted voice-actor was Tim Colceri, the door gunner in Standley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.

The biggest difficulties of production were the extremely low budget and short time constraint.  We made 15 episodes, but in the end cut to re-edit and uploaded on YouTube with 12 episodes.  

I really would like to thank to all of the voice-over actors and artists who graciously worked within our low budget restraint.

The Kimchi Warrior superhero saga continues on as a book series written by Critina Ducu, a talented actress who also has experience in Korean culture.

The Onggi Bot animation screened at the biggest Onggi Festival in Olsan in May of 2013. “Onggi” are traditional earthenware vessels that store key fermented ingredients in Korean cuisine. Onggi vessels are porous with tiny holes that allow air to penetrate inside while still preserving ingredients for long periods of time.

Also, Canal Plus, a TV station in France put Young Man Kang’s activities and footage of Kimchi Warrior in their documentary.  The documentary narrated by “Antoine de Caunes” introduces Korean culture to the French community and aired May in 2013. 

I want to make this animation the Kimchi Warrior into a live action web series, a stylish martial arts action and dark comedy.