It’s been quite a week for filmmaker Andrew Ahn. On Wednesday, his Hulu film Fire Island earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie, and on Thursday night at the opening of Outfest he received the LGBTQIA+ festival’s Outfest Achievement Award, recognizing a body of work that includes Fire Island, Driveways (2019), and Spa Night (2016).
The festival called Ahn “a beloved member of the Outfest family” and “a champion of promoting diversity in the arts by mentoring youth filmmakers through programs like our OutSet program, among many others.” “It’s cool,” Ahn told Deadline of the Outfest honor. “It feels a little early in my career.
I legit tried to turn it down when [Outfest director of programming] Mike Dougherty emailed me about it, but they were very supportive and effusive that this was my time.
I’m so thankful because Outfest was a big part of my coming of age as a filmmaker. I screened both of my short films here. I’ve screened all of my features here.” Actor Joel Kim Booster, who stars in Fire Island and just earned an Emmy nomination himself for writing the film, introduced Ahn at Outfest, noting that the two minutes he was allotted were insufficient to properly laud the director.
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