Film, Series, Entertainment News : The LAWEBFEST 2022 announces selection of new festival director

Young Man Kang - LAWEBFEST festival director

The LAWEBFEST board, headed up by honorary chairperson Tammy Ajakwe, recently announced that film director, Young Man Kang, has been elected to serve as LAWEBFEST’s newest festival director. Also, Marseille Webfest’s founder, producer Jean-Michel Albert, was appointed to serve as the festival’s honorary president.

LAWEBFEST turns 13 this year, and is proud to announce that this year’s festival will be held at The Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles on November 4~5.

In 2005, when the first online video was uploaded to YouTube, the world of web video content officially began. Several years later, the first international festival dedicated specifically to web series, LAWEBFEST, was established in Hollywood/Los Angeles in 2009 by TV Writer/Producer, Michael Ajakwe, Jr. The following year, in the French port city of Marseille, the Marseille Webfest was born, followed by the Melbourne Webfest in Australia, the Rome Webfest in Italy, and the DC Webfest in Washington DC.

In 2015, the Seoul Webfest (initially called KWebfest) was established in South Korea by Hollywood director Young Man Kang. Michael Ajakwe, Jr. encouraged and supported this new festival’s efforts, seeing this as one more outlet to spur on creators from around the globe to reach even higher. Since then, webfests have spread all over the world, fulfilling Michael’s vision of a global celebration of the web series format. Currently, there are more than 50 webfests which form a worldwide webfest network. With the rapid growth of YouTube, OTT platforms, and social media, web series festivals are constantly growing in numbers.

Michael Ajakwe Jr. / Young Man Kang

Serving as the godfather of the webfest community, the LAWEBFEST has continually grown since its initial founding. However, in 2018, the LAWEBFEST lost its founder and guiding light, Michael Ajakwe , Jr. Having traveled extensively around the globe helping to start new Webfests, Michael visited the Seoul Webfest twice and continued to actively support the event and its founder, Young Man Kang, which made Young the natural choice to assume the position that was left vacant after Michael’s passing.

Upon being selected as the new director of LAWEBFEST, Young Man Kang said, “I am honored to assume the role of LAWEBFEST’s festival director, a position that carries on the legacy of the godfather of all webfests, my friend and webfest mentor, Michael Ajakwe Jr. I look forward to working closely with the board to insure that Michael Ajakwe, Jr’s vision continues to inspire generations of web series creators for years to come.”

Contact email: lawebfest2009@gmail.com