Young Man Kang Prepares for LA WEBFEST 2024

Los Angeles, CA – Young Man Kang, a prominent filmmaker and content creator, has assumed the role of festival director at the esteemed LA WEBFEST since 2022. The LA WEBFEST is now gearing up for its highly anticipated 15th annual event, scheduled to take place at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Los Angeles on May 2-3, 2024.

Young Man Kang at the 14th Annual LA WEBFEST 2023 Red Carpet

 

This year's festival promises to captivate audiences with an international showcase featuring some of the finest long-form series, short-form web series, short films, pilots, and podcasts from across the globe. The submission window for the 2024 event is currently open, with the regular submission deadline set for the end of November.

A notable highlight from the previous edition of the festival was the inclusion of long-form series from major industry players like ABC, Netflix, Apple TV, and LionsGate+. The event also saw celebrated nominees such as Jason Momoa for his role in "See," Paula Patton for "Somewhere Between," and Randy Huggins for creating the popular crime drama "BMF," produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

The LA WEBFEST has a rich history of discovering new talent and nurturing creativity within the web series format. Issa Rae, renowned star and creator of "Insecure," initially screened her show "Awkward Black Girl" at the festival, while her co-star Yvonne Orgi was discovered by LA WEBFEST founder Michale Ajakwe, Jr.

Ajakwe founded the LA WEBFEST in 2009, marking it as the world's first international festival exclusively dedicated to web series. Since then, the festival's influence has extended, inspiring the creation of webfests worldwide, with more than 50 webfests forming a global network.

Michael Pare, Madison Ekstrand and Young Man Kang
at the 14th Annual LA WEBFEST 2023 Red Carpet

With new additions to its team, including Young Man Kang as a director, and Honorary President Jean-Michel Albert, founder of the Marseille Webfest in France, alongside Vice President Jazmen Darnell Brown, the LA WEBFEST continues to adapt and thrive in a landscape characterized by the rapid growth of YouTube, OTT platforms, and social media.

In sum, the LA WEBFEST 2024 is poised to be a grand celebration of creativity and innovation in the web series genre, honoring established talent while unearthing fresh voices from around the world.

Group Photo at the 14th Annual LA WEBFEST 2023 Red Carpet

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15th Annual LA WEBFEST 2024:

Call for Entries - Regular Submissions:

*Submit Link:
https://filmfreeway.com/LAWEBFESTSince2009

- Web Series (Short Form & Long Form)
- Pilot
- Shorts
- Podcasts

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The LAWEBFEST 2022 announces selection of new festival director - Young Man Kang

 

Young Man Kang - LAWEBFEST festival director

 

The LAWEBFEST board, headed up by honorary chairperson Tammy Ajakwe, recently announced that film director, Young Man Kang, has been elected to serve as LAWEBFEST’s newest festival director. Also, Marseille Webfest’s founder, producer Jean-Michel Albert, was appointed to serve as the festival’s honorary president.  

LAWEBFEST turns 13 this year, and is proud to announce that this year’s festival will be held at The Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles on November 4~5.

 

In 2005, when the first online video was uploaded to YouTube, the world of web video content officially began. Several years later, the first international festival dedicated specifically to web series, LAWEBFEST, was established in Hollywood/Los Angeles in 2009 by TV Writer/Producer, Michael Ajakwe, Jr.  The following year, in the French port city of Marseille, the Marseille Webfest was born, followed by the Melbourne Webfest in Australia, the Rome Webfest in Italy, and the DC Webfest in Washington DC.

 

In 2015, the Seoul Webfest (initially called KWebfest) was established in South Korea by Hollywood director Young Man Kang.  Michael Ajakwe, Jr. encouraged and supported this new festival’s efforts, seeing this as one more outlet to spur on creators from around the globe to reach even higher.  Since then, webfests have spread all over the world, fulfilling Michael’s vision of a global celebration of the web series format. Currently, there are more than 50 webfests which form a worldwide webfest network. With the rapid growth of YouTube, OTT platforms, and social media, web series festivals are constantly growing in numbers.

Michael Ajakwe Jr. / Young Man Kang

 

Serving as the godfather of the webfest community, the LAWEBFEST has continually grown since its initial founding. However, in 2018, the LAWEBFEST lost its founder and guiding light, Michael Ajakwe , Jr.  Having traveled extensively around the globe helping to start new Webfests, Michael visited the Seoul Webfest twice and continued to actively support the event and its founder, Young Man Kang, which made Young the natural choice to assume the position that was left vacant after Michael’s passing. 

Upon being selected as the new director of LAWEBFEST, Young Man Kang said, “I am honored to assume the role of LAWEBFEST’s festival director, a position that carries on the legacy of the godfather of all webfests, my friend and webfest mentor, Michael Ajakwe Jr.  I look forward to working closely with the board to insure that Michael Ajakwe, Jr’s vision continues to inspire generations of web series creators for years to come.”

Contact email: lawebfest2009@gmail.com 

LAWEBFEST official poster

Young Man Kang - LAWEBFEST festival director

Young Man Kang with LAWEBFEST crew 

LAWEBFEST 2022 the 13th Edition

South Korean web-series 'Arex Airport Railroad' and 'A First Trip' win awards

May 6, 201611:23 AM MST

EXAMINER.COM

Promo card image

Courtesy of Young Man Kang

Two South Korean web-based series, AREX Airport Railroad & A First Trip, were honored in the world's largest web series festival in Los Angeles, organizers said Monday.

Jeong Hyeon-nam of "AREX Airport Railroad" received the Outstanding Lead Actress award in the drama category and Yoon Incheon of "A First Trip" received the Outstanding Cinematography award in the Los Angeles Web Series Festival 2016 that closed on Sunday on April 24.

LAWEBFEST is the world's oldest and largest festival of its kind, with about 400 titles from across the world submitted this year.

Web series consist of short episodes that are 5 to 20 minutes long and are available only on the Internet.

Directed by Young Man Kang, "AREX Airport Railroad" is about a man and a woman who first meet on an airport-bound train and develop a romantic relationship while traveling together.

"A First Trip" is about two grown-up sisters making a trip in search of their mother.

The two were among the 10 Korean titles selected from KWEB FEST for competition in the three-day festival held at Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood.

http://www.examiner.com/article/south-korean-web-series-arex-airport-railroad-and-a-first-trip-win-awards

KO WEBFEST BREAKING NEWS!!!!

BREAKING NEWS!!! 

KO WEBFEST (MAY 27-29) TO ANNOUNCE BY-INVITATION-ONLY SELECTIONS ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, CHOOSING 50 LAWEBFEST 2015 ENTRIES: 

One of the main goals of LAWEBFEST is to provide as many opportunities as possible for our entries-- present and past.  Whether it's sending them to the south of France to screen at  the marvelous Marseilles Webfest or arranging one-on-one meetings with L.A. studio bosses, our mission is to put the spotlight on as many of our entries as we can and expose their wonderful work to as many parts of the world as we can, made possible by our amazing network of official partners in Europe (Marseilles Webfest in France, Rome Webfest in Italy), Australia (Melbourne Webfest) you and now Northeast Asia (Ko Webest in Seoul, South Korea). 

The founder of this latest player in the web series festival circuit is an award-winning LAWEBFEST alum from 2014-- Young Man Kang.  Young will program his historic inaugural event by hand-picking web series from Korea, Italy (with the recommendation of Rome Webfest co-founder Janet DeNardis), Australia (with the recommendation of Melbourne Webfest co-founder Steiner Ellingsen) and the United States (with the recommendation of LAWEBFEST founder Michael Ajakwe Jr.). Other countries that will be sending shows to Ko Webfest in the future include Ireland (with recommendations from DubWebfest founder Mikael Thiery) and Germany (with recommendations from Webfest Berlin founder Meredith Berkholder).  

Ko Webfest will be held May 27-29 at the spectacular Scalatium/Multi-Cultural Center in Kangnam, Seoul.
Ko Webfest will release its 2015 Official Selections on Tuesday, January 27 on the 

Ko Webfest Facebook page and Twitter.  We will simultaneously release that list on our Facebook pages, Twitter and our website.  

LAWEBFEST Congratulates Young Man Kang on his dynamic efforts at bringing a web series festival to his native country of Korea and we are honored to assist him in making this possible.

To learn more about the upcoming Ko Webfest, read Alexis Niki's recent profile in StoryNova: link to article here