The 4th YALE IN HOLLYWOOD Fest Concludes And Announces Award Winners

PHOTO CAPTIONS: Justin Noble (far left), Cory Finley (Top Left), The Strawberry Jam (Top Middle), Lemon Shark (Top Right), Aka Deadlee (Bottom Right), Victor vs. the Metaverse (Bottom Middle), Fragments (Bottom Left)

Los Angeles (December 14, 2023): Yale in Hollywood Fest has concluded its 4th annual global edition and Yale in Hollywood Fest Awards 2023 is available for streaming via its website http://yihfest.com:

EMBED full length awards video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/live/Fz1NVT_IU9k?si=8CLSxSn6tpVZlmhf

Programmer Melissa Dawn Johnson hosted the awards where Johnson presented the inaugural Career Achievement Award to producer/writer/director Justin Noble.

Programmer Hannah Ruth Earl presented the second Visionary of the Year Award to writer/director Cory Finley.

Head Juror of Comedy and Dramatic Short Films Robinne Lee presented Best Comedic Short Film to "The Strawberry Jam" by Laura Lionetta, Best Dramatic Short Film to "Lemon Shark" by Kate Nowllin, and Special Jury Prize to "Victor vs. the Metaverse" by Dellah Napier and Lucy Powers.

Head Juror of Documentary and Experimental Forum Elizabeth Greer presented Best Documentary Short Film to "Aka Deadlee" by Yuchen Fang and Quentin Lee, and Best Experimental Short Film to "Fragments" by Alexandra Délano Alonso and Daniela Alatorre Benard.

Johnson concluded the event by announcing 2024's dates for Yale in Hollywood Fest from December 6 to 7, 2024 with a developing venue sponsorship from The Godfrey Hotel Hollywood in Los Angeles.

The alumnae jury of 2023 Yale in Hollywood Fest includes:

Heading features jury is ROBINNE LEE, a Jamaican-American writer, actor, and producer. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School, Robinne has accrued numerous acting credits in both film and television over the past two decades, most notably in "Hitch," "Seven Pounds," "Hotel for Dogs," "13 Going on 30," "Being Mary Jane," and the "Fifty Shades" franchise. Her debut novel, The Idea of You, originally published by St. Martin's Press in 2017, is now an international bestseller, with over a dozen foreign translations. Dubbed "the sleeper hit of the pandemic," by Vogue Magazine, The Idea Of You film is currently being produced by Amazon Prime Studios with Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway in the lead role. Robinne is attached as a producer. An inactive member of the New York Bar, Robinne has also produced various independent films. She regularly speaks on panels and writes for trade magazines regarding the roles of women and actors of color in the industry. Robinne can next be seen in Netflix's limited series "Jigsaw," opposite Giancarlo Esposito.

Heading shorts jury is Elizabeth Greer, an awarded actor who earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She works regularly in episodic television, with guest spots and recurring on many shows such as "Succession", "The Morning Show," "Ray Donovan," and many more. She started her acting career on many New York and east coast stages such as Lincoln Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, American Jewish Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre.

Yale college graduate Chris Burke is a veteran of documentary, tv and commercial production across numerous genres, winning an Emmy for directing the PBS doc BLOODY THURSDAY about the hard-fought struggle of Pacific Coast longshoremen to unionize in Depression-era San Francisco. He has created shows for networks including Discovery, A&E, Turner and Food Network, and produced content for Showtime Sports, FOX Sports and more. His feature documentary No Ordinary Campaign won Best Documentary Feature at Yale in Hollywood Fest 2022.

DONNA ONG is an academic turned filmmaker. An American-born Burmese-Chinese, she grew up in Hong Kong and went to Yale University where she majored in Film Studies and Political Science as an undergraduate. She started her career in international diplomacy and political analysis, before returning to her home city to complete a PhD in film history at the University of Hong Kong, only to realise that film production was what she really wanted to do. Since 2019 she has combined her academic research and political expertise in various projects exploring Hong Kong identity. These include producing and directing a forthcoming feature length documentary about the life and times of a Hong Kong film critic Law Kar, and a ViuTV commissioned Oral History docuseries Expatations (launched in March 2023). In addition to her work in documentary, Donna is interested in fiction films and made a short film Karma's Meth Nightmare that won an award at the 2022 Yale in Hollywood Film Festival, which received special appraise from esteemed playwright David Henry Hwang.

Founded and headed by Kevin Winston, Yale in Hollywood is a volunteer run organization based in Los Angeles that connect Yale students and alumni to the entertainment industry. Yale in Hollywood's Social Chair Quentin Lee is the festival director for Yale in Hollywood Fest 2022. Hannah Ruth Earl and Melissa Johnson are short films and features programmers respectively.

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