Born in 1962 in Chimkent, Kazakhstan, Sergey Dvortsevoy graduated from the Radio Technical Institute for Aviation in Novosibirsk. As an Aeroflot manager he travelled the country, until he discovered an advertisement for Courses for Directors and Screenplay writers in Moscow. His first short film Scasti demonstrated his ability to show the world in its simplicity, its warmth and its strength. This wonderful mixture of naturalism and poetry was later called ‘new sincerity’ by the critics. Dvortsevoy has garnered more than 30 awards for his documentaries, including Paradise (1995), Bread Day (1998), High Way and In the Dark (1999). Dvortsevoy describes his films not as documentaries but as life cinema: “I am as watchful as an eagle, my head rotates in a circle of 360 degrees”. His debut feature film, the internationally acclaimed Tulpan, premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival winning the prestigious Prix Un Certain Regard. Tulpan went on to win major awards more than 17 film festivals and events around the world including Tokyo, London, Montreal, Reikjavik and Dubai, and was awarded Best Feature Film at the APSAs in 2008. In 2018, his film Ayka received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the festival’s prize for Best Actress.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
