Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, star of the globally acclaimed Oscar-winning Best Picture “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” will serve as Guest of Honor and Advisor at The Fifth Annual Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival, the premier platform for young visual artists and one of the largest short film festivals in the world. Announced today, the news is the latest highlight in a landmark year for Yeoh, an actress and martial arts icon whose legendary career spans four decades.
On Friday, April 28, Yeoh will appear during the festival’s 2023 awards ceremony to share inspiring insights with the next generation of filmmakers. The ceremony will be held at the Meihodo Cultural Center in Fukuoka, Japan, and will premiere on YouTube on Sunday, April 30.
“We’re so excited to welcome the incredible Michelle Yeoh, fresh off of her historic Academy Award win,” said Qing Su, Chairman of the Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival. “Everything about Michelle’s recent career surge, and her landmark film ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once,’ is emblematic of Meihodo’s themes and mission, including pushing the boundaries of cinema storytelling. Also, as an Asia-originated festival with historic roots in martial arts, we’re proud that Michelle also embodies our goals for diversity and our origins.”
At this year’s Oscars, Yeoh made history as the first Asian woman to be awarded for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. In addition, Yeoh recently won the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, making her the first Asian woman to win in the category. After starting her career as a Hong Kong martial arts star with roles opposite Jackie Chan in “Police Story 3: Supercop” and “Tai Chi Master” alongside Jet Li, she went on to appear in the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and, more recently, “Crazy Rich Asians.”
“I’m so honored to be a part of this festival, which champions and celebrates young visual artists from around the world,” said Yeoh. “‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is about taking risks, embracing bold new ideas, and doing it all with love and passion. Meihodo seems to share these same values, which makes this a perfect collaboration.”
Since launching in 2018 in Fukuoka, Meihodo has become one of the largest and most popular short film festivals in the world. This year, the festival received a record 3,533 submissions from 122 countries and regions around the world. Previous Guests of Honor include Academy Award winners Michael Douglas, Juliette Binoche and Yōjirō Takita, a Japanese filmmaker who received the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2008 for “Departures.”
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