2026 Jury & Audience Awards
Documentary Jury Award Winners
THE GAS STATION ATTENDANT - feature film
For the director’s artful use of archival imagery and narrative voice, transporting viewers masterfully through a treasure trove of recorded memories. This thoughtful film's strong narrative arc offers intimacy into a first-generation immigrant experience that is captivatingly unique and universal. The Best Documentary Feature Award goes to THE GAS STATION ATTENDANT directed by Karla Murthy.
BENEATH WHICH RIVERS FLOW - short film
For its creatively framed, intimate look at the painful clash of rural life and climate impacts in the marshlands of Iraq, this film conveys the rapidity of change for a young man and his buffalo through silent reflection and breathtaking cinematography. The documentary jury award for Best Short Documentary goes to BENEATH WHICH RIVERS FLOW directed by Ali Yahya.
Narrative Jury Award Winners
HONEYJOON - Feature film
The jury recognizes HONEYJOON as the winner of the 2026 Austin Asian American Film Festival Narrative Feature competition. The film’s narrative is a timely story of reconciliation, political activism, and feminine pleasure. Tenderly navigating the tension between grief over the death of a loved one and the urge to kiss your hot tour guide, HONEYJOON lets joy and sadness coexist in harmony. For its lush setting, cultural specificity, and the complex mother/daughter relationship as its heart, the jury is honored to award HONEYJOON.
PRAYING MANTIS - short film
The jury is proud to award PRAYING MANTIS as the Narrative Short Film winner at the 2026 Austin Asian American Film Festival. The filmmakers combine horror-noir and animation into a visually stunning and layered piece of work. Beneath its inventive creature design and impressive craftsmanship lies an impactful story of maternal love and sacrifice. And so for its originality, emotional resonance, and command of style and pacing, we are honored to recognize PRAYING MANTIS.
Special Jury Mentions
DO YOU LOVE ME - Documentary Feature | DIRECTING
For the director’s compelling sequencing of Lebanese visual history from across decades, creatively weaving a vision of their shared cultural and physical reality, this film gives viewers a strong understanding of the Lebanese experience. The documentary jury gives a Special Jury Mention for Directing to DO YOU LOVE ME directed by Lana Daher
DAILY WORKER - Documentary SHORT | DISTINCT POV
For the director’s distinctive perspective on labor, immigration, and history. This film’s meditative daily moments in the scanning library draw audiences in through rare archival imagery and a touching personal story. The jury gives a Special Jury Mention for Distinct POV to DAILY WORKER directed by Ting Su
MEMORIES OF A WINDOW - Documentary SHORT | Unfiltered Truth Telling
For its heroic efforts capturing what freedom really is, and why people die for it. The directors transport audiences into the clandestine reality of Iran through cell phone footage, secret meetings, and street protests. The window becomes both another frame and a metaphor for how people are finding connection amid violent unrest. The documentary jury gives a Special Jury Mention for Unfiltered Truth Telling to MEMORIES OF A WINDOW by Amin Pakparvar and Mehraneh Salimian
FILIPIÑANA - NARRATIVE FEATURE | Cinematography
The jury recognizes the distinct visual language and vision in FILIPINANA. Its beautiful tableaus, compositions, and vivid color palette deepen its exploration of its themes of power and class disparities. For its exceptional artistry and meticulously framed shot design, we proudly award FILIPINANA a Special Jury Mention for Cinematography.
BEFORE THE CALL - NARRATIVE Feature | DIRECTING
The jury recognizes the restrained, precise direction of BEFORE THE CALL. Through exacting shot choices, framing, and controlled pacing, James Choi conjures scenes of startling, private intimacy, lingering on his characters and helping the audience feel the weight of the protagonist’s choice. For this quietly powerful meditation on identity, duty, and cultural and generational estrangement, we proudly award the film a Special Jury Mention for Directing.
KUCHAR (THE ITCH) - NARRATIVE SHORT | ACTING
The jury celebrates the spirited ensemble at the heart of KUCHAR (THE ITCH), whose warm, lived-in chemistry carries the film’s lighthearted comedy with disarming ease. The cast handles a delicate, taboo subject with rare emotional intelligence and grace, never letting the humor soften its honesty. Subhashree Sahoo and Neha Vyaso anchor the film as daughter and mother, drawn closer by the secret they share, while understated turns from the father and younger sister round out a household that feels wholly real. For their comic timing, tonal balance, and rapport, we proudly award KUCHAR (THE ITCH) a Special Jury Mention for Acting.
PAPER DAUGHTER - NARRATIVE SHORT | Achievement in Animation
The jury highlights the technical achievement in PAPER DAUGHTER for its use of stop-motion animation to tell a story of immigration and ancestral connection. The layered use of fraying paper explores the nature of masks central to the narrative and themes, while also demonstrating the immense care and detailed modeling on display. From the precise movement of a tear down a cheek to the raised eyebrow of a suspicious official, the jury appreciates the delicate construction of each frame, puppet, and character. For these reasons, we award a Mention for Achievement in Animation to PAPER DAUGHTER.
Audience Awards
Documentary Feature: Traces of Home
Narrative Feature: Honeyjoon
Documentary Short: Barrio Chino Havana
Narrative Short: Paper Daughter
2026 AAAFF Jury
For each film festival, AAAFF assembles a Narrative & Documentary Jury of peers from the film and entertainment industry to select awards.
Categories include jury selections for feature and short films.
Narrative Jury
Yuta Yamaguchi
Yuta Yamaguchi is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor in Austin, TX. His filmography includes work that has screened at Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, HBO, SDAAFF, and AAAFF (his favorite festival). Indiewire lauded his "striking visual work" on Ya'Ke Smith's WOLF that won the Panavision Best Texas Feature Film Award at the Dallas International Film Festival. He served as Associate Producer on August Evening, winner of the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Bilingual in English and Japanese and a graduate of UT Austin's Radio-Television-Film program, Yuta currently serves as the Director of Multimedia Production at the University of Texas at Austin.
Jenni Kaye
Jenni Kaye is the Co-Founder of Hyperreal Film Club, Letterboxd's Austin correspondent, and a Marketing Consultant for Magnolia Pictures. In her spare time, she likes producing and directing films with her friends, crafting, and watching movies on Tubi.
Austin King
Austin King is a filmmaker and festival programmer in the Austin, TX film community. He screened for the SXSW features program in 2021-22 and was Assistant Programmer for aGLIFF in Austin in the same time period. Austin joined the Fantastic Fest staff in 2022 as Head of Submissions, and in 2025 transitioned to a Features Programmer. He has experience writing, directing, and producing films and is currently touring festivals around the world with his debut short film, “One Night Cherub” which received the 'Best Emerging Filmmaker' Award at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival.
Documentary Jury
Jina Chung
Jina Chung is a veteran fundraiser with nearly fifteen years of experience supporting independent media. She is a fierce advocate of Community-Centric Fundraising and helps mission-driven organizations use fundraising models rooted in equity and social justice to support their vision. She has worked in many different roles, including leading a progressive audio journalism organization, Frequencies of Change Media, and serving as the Development Director for Color Congress and the Senior Director of Development & Partnerships at the International Documentary Association (IDA). As a nonprofit consultant (Tokki Consulting), she has a strong affinity and passion for building organizational and fundraising capacity for small arts and media organizations. She currently serves as board treasurer for OUTsider, a transmedia arts organization in Austin, Texas. Outside work, Jina enjoys spending her free time collecting stationery and journaling.
PJ RAVAL
PJ Raval is a queer first generation Filipino American filmmaker who examines social justice issues through the voices of queer and marginalized subjects. Named one of Out Magazine’s “Out 100”, PJ’s feature credits include TRINIDAD (Showtime), BEFORE YOU KNOW IT (PBS), and CALL HER GANDA (GLAAD Media Award nominee) which recently broadcast on POV to millions of PBS viewers.
Also an accomplished cinematographer, PJ shot the Academy Award‐nominated Best Documentary TROUBLE THE WATER and is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, 2016 Firelight Media Fellow, 2021 Soros Justice Fellow, and a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
SARAH KUCK
Sarah Kuck grew up in an on-the-move military family, and from an early age became curious about the meaning of home and belonging. She now finds that much of her interest in storytelling revolves around ideas of community and relationship. Her films – Even the Walls (Best Short Film, SIFF, 2015), Retornados (IWMF Grantee, 2016), and Tarcila (Audience Choice Short SFiFF, 2020) – each examine external forces that pressure communities to change. She works as the Film & TV Support Coordinator for SXSW. Sarah earned her master’s degree in media studies from The New School (2013), and her bachelor’s degree in environmental journalism from Western Washington University (2006). Sarah lives in South Austin with her partner Jake and cat Kiki Iris. Once a month, she and her friend Ivy Chiu run a documentary club to help local, nonfiction creatives collaborate.