At today’s awards ceremony, Albert won Best BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) Filmmaker for the The Commitment at the UK-based Sappho Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Best Short Film (Aaron Howland, Seth Howland, Albert M. Chan, Richard Possemato), Best Director (Albert M. Chan), and Best Sound Design (John Gage).

All films will be available to watch for free on the festival’s website for the next week.

The Commitment stars Albert and Jason Lane Fenton as gay adoptive parents, Mary Niederkorn as the social worker facilitating the adoption, and Kerri Patterson as the Asian-American birthmother. Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote, “Emotional resonance, joy and heartbreak…indeed, this is a film that would be difficult to pull off if not for its tremendously talented cast.” The film has screened at over 40 film festivals on six continents and won multiple awards, most notably edging out Oscar®-nominated Moonrise Kingdom to win a 2013 NASW Media Award. The film is available at Amazon.com on the compilation Green Briefs and on the Queerbee streaming platform. The film is produced by Albert, Richard Possemato, Aaron Howland, and Seth Howland.

The Sappho Film Festival is an LGBTQ+ film festival in the UK, with its key focus on diversity within the community and exploring films made by, for, and about the LGBT community, especially films and filmmakers that are focussed on women, LGBT+ and BIPoC subjects. The festival’s goal is to give a platform to the best LGBT films that highlight new and established filmmakers, providing a network and community for everybody.