‘Blue Boy Trial’ Takes Top Prize in Asian Pop-Up Cinema 20th Edition

The 20th edition of Asian Pop-Up Cinema announced the winners of the Festival’s jury competition, which saw 17 films in competitions including the Grand Jury Feature Film Award, the Best Short Film Award, the Best Animated Feature Award and the Francis Kwong Memorial Award, recognizing an emerging director for their first or second feature film. The Festival also announced its annual Audience Choice Award winners.

BLUE BOY TRIAL, in which three transgender women ignite a nationwide debate on identity and being queer in 1960s Japan from director Kashou Iizuka, took the Festival’s Grand Jury Feature Film Award.

The Francis Kwong Memorial Award, recognizing an emerging director for their first or second feature film, went to South Korean director Kim Sung-yoon for his intense directorial debut, FRAGMENT, following two teenagers who are connected by crime and punishment.

The Animated Feature Film Award went to China’s THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME, from directors Yu Ao & Zhou Tienan, and Yaser Barzegar’s HEALTH CENTER from Iran picked up the Best Short Film Award.

Audiences selected APRIL, a co-production from Taiwan and The Philippines by writer/director Freddy Tang, for the Audience Choice Award. In the film, a Filipino migrant worker and a Taiwanese ex-convict experience an unexpected homecoming.

“Each of our outstanding winners has brought something unique and inspiring to this year’s Festival,” said Asian Pop-Up Cinema Founder and Executive Director Sophia Wong Boccio. “This recognition reflects the passion and effort they have invested in their craft.”

The 2026 jury is led by Iranian filmmaker and Chicago-based educator Mehnrez Saeed-Vafa, joined by former Director of Programming of the Gene Siskel Film Center Barbara Sharres, and Tokyo-based film critic and curator, Karen Severns. Together, their combined expertise spans film programming, criticism, and cross-cultural storytelling.

The full list of juried award winners at the 20th Asian Pop-Up Cinema includes: 

Grand Jury Feature Film Award

BLUE BOY TRIAL (Japan)

Dir. Kaisho Iizuka

With a clear and unsentimental eye, BLUE BOY TRIAL takes on the legacy of historical amnesia as seen through the story of a central character caught up in its wave. In doing so, the film accomplishes something rare: It illuminates the vastness of the past through the microcosm of a challenged individual.

Francis Kwong Memorial Award

Kim Sung-yoon

FRAGMENT (South Korea)

With compelling dramatic force, director Kim Sung-yoon presents us with the story of three children wounded by a shared family trauma. FRAGMENT is ultimately an empathetic and emphatic argument for the closing of the cycle of violence and the chance it offers for reconciliation.

Best Animated Feature Film Award

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME (China)

Dirs. Yu Ao & Zhou Tienan

Utilizing cutting edge animation techniques, THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME captures a fantasy idea of Shanghai’s past. Its fanciful tale, combining love, violence, vengeance, memory, and gambling, results in an appealing narrative cocktail.

Best Short Film Award 

HEALTH CENTER (Iran)

Dir. Yaser Barzegar

With remarkable clarity, HEALTH CENTER examines with pointillist precision the ways in which social mores and traditional rules create a chain of deception, lies and illusions.

The 20th Asian Pop-Up Cinema Festival ran March 20 – April 12, 2026. For the full schedule of screenings, guests, and other programming please visit https://www.asianpopupcinema.org/ 

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