Winners circle

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, which closed up its city showcase with a party that featured awards for docs and narrative features in competition, brought out heartfelt tears (Ham Tran) on Thursday night, along with some Oscar-style exuberance from Tanuj Chopra (“Punching at the Sun”), who exclaimed “This is crazy! Dennis [Lim, the Village Voice editor who was on the Narrative jury], I read you every week! And there were so many good films – 12 features!” From left, Special Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature winner Cheuk Kwan (“Chinese Restaurants”), recipient of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, Nicole Newnham (producer, co-director, “Sentenced Home”), winner of the Audience Award/Best Narrative Feature (in a tie with Deepa Mehta’s “Water”), Ham Tran (“Journey from the Fall”), Best Narrative Feature Award winner Tanuj Chopra (“Punching at the Sun”), Special Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature winner Richard Wong (“Colma: The Musical”). (Photo by Laura Irvine; reporting by Jennifer Young)

03.24.2006