APSA Nominees & Winners

Isak Borg is First Secretary of the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, so is constantly under surveillance and scrutiny. Borg has been secretly dating Bok-joo, a…

Ran Bi Wa, a monkey raised by a human tribe, heads towards the Holy Mountain to steal fire for mankind. At the end of the…

After death and before reincarnation, the souls of the deceased transit through a fantastical realm known as Another World. Gudo is a spirit who helps…

In a future society where humans and mermaids coexist, Stephan, a regular office worker at a shipbuilding company, is suddenly proposed to by Chao –…

Adopted by a big, boisterous kangaroo family of travelling wrestlers, Teo has a pretty great life. After receiving visions from an unfamiliar land, however, Teo…

Batara Goempar is an award-winning Indonesian cinematographer with over a decade of experience shaping visuals for both feature films and commercial projects. A graduate of…

Lav Diaz is a filmmaker based in the Philippines. He’s renowned for his contemplative narrative style and extensive exploration of the Filipino socio-political landscape through…

Prabath Roshan (born in 1973) began his journey in the Sri Lankan arts industry in 1992 as a camera assistant, later advancing to the role…

Ronald Plante, CSC, is an award-winning cinematographer whose credits include Sharp Objects (HBO), Reacher (Amazon), La Tresse (Netflix), and Yunan. His upcoming work includes The Devil’s Star, based on Jo Nesbø’s acclaimed novel,…

Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Yuta Tsukinaga graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Cinema. He has worked as cinematographer on numerous acclaimed films,…

Jafar Panahi (1960, Mianeh, Iran) is one of the most acclaimed contemporary filmmakers. He won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2025 for It Was…

Akio Fujimoto (writer/director/editor) is a Japanese filmmaker known for his intimate, socially engaged cinema. Born in Osaka in 1988, he trained in film at the…

Amir Azizi, born in 1984 in Ahvaz, Iran, is an Iranian writer and director. He began his career with short films before moving to feature…

Garin Nugroho is a pioneer of major national film festivals and a key figure in bringing Indonesian cinema to the international stage, with his films…

Sengedorj Janchivdorj is one of Mongolia’s leading contemporary filmmakers, known for his innovative storytelling and ability to blend drama with philosophical depth. Having started his…

The feature documentary offers an intimate, first-hand perspective on life under siege in Gaza, captured through video calls between Sepideh Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist…

A cinematic allegory of a boy becoming a teenager in rural China. Searching through an emotional landscape of growth, he reflects on the poetry of…

If the world doesn’t accept you and your kind, trailblaze a world that does. Inspired by the Black and Latinx underground Ballroom culture of New…

Set in and around a former Soviet nuclear test site in the Kazakh steppe, We Live Here offers a warning for humanity’s future. Between 1949…

Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan. Director Najiba Noori films…

What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences.

Magellan is a navigator rebelling against the power of the King, due to his humanism and belief in justice. But once he is finally in…

Bali, circa 1932. Since childhood, Sinta and Darta were close, though they came from opposite classes. Sinta was born into the wealthy family of a…

He sacrificed himself for love, taking the blame for a crime she committed. Unable to repay him for the sacrifice he made, she leaves to…

In summer, a city woman and a restless young man meet by the sea and wander together. In winter, a burned-out screenwriter drifts into a…

Yui Suzuki Yui Suzuki is a new discovery who gained acclaim for her performance in the mid-length film Touch (Pia Film Festival 2023 Runner-Up Prize).…

#APSA25 WINNER Best Performance Sean Lau for Papa Hong Kong Presented by APSA International Jury Member Al Cossar with a message from Sean Lau.

Actor, writer, theatre director, producer and university professor Georges Khabbaz has been creating plays, TV series, and movies for 27 years now. In addition, he…

Xin Zhilei first gained prominence for her lead role in the film Crosscurrent in 2016. The film was selected for the main competition at the…

Born in Tokyo, Japanese writer-director Chie Hayakawa studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her short film Niagara (2014) was selected…

Annemarie Jacir has written, directed and produced over 16 films. Her films have premiered in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam and Toronto, and all of…

Kaouther Ben Hania constantly explores the boundaries between fiction and documentary. Her 2023 film Four Daughters was nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award 2024…

Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit is a veteran Thai filmmaker, screenwriter, and commercial director. His debut feature, 36 (2012), won the New Currents Award at the 17th Busan…

International star Shu Qi is an actress and director. She has won two Golden Horse Awards and three Hong Kong Film Awards, among many other…

An exploration of Singapore’s societal and cultural expectations through the lens of a misfit in an all-girls’ school, as she joins a girl gang and…

Chou, a sensitive teen craving independence, struggles as the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis hits his family’s finances and worsens tensions at home. He secretly works…

While people across 1990s Iraq struggle to survive the war and food shortages, Saddam Hussein requires each school in the country to prepare a cake…

Enigmatic 17-year-old high school student Jooin is a cheerful friend, a shameless daughter, a mischievous girlfriend, and a person always hard to predict. But more…