Experience Every Frame

We’re excited to announce the 2025 Asia Pacific Screen Awards and Forum screenings program!

Kicking off the season with a special early screening, we present Happyend on Wednesday 12 November at 6:30pm—ahead of the main event period. This compelling youth drama from director Neo Sora explores friendship, surveillance, and political tension in a near-future Tokyo living under the threat of catastrophic earthquake. The screening includes a recorded introduction by the director, winner of the Young Cinema Award for this film at the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2024.

Our main program features an outstanding selection of 10 nominated films from the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, including Rima Das’s coming-of-age drama Village Rockstars 2, the animated romance The Square set in Pyongyang, Jafar Panahi’s escalating drama It Was Just an Accident, and the visually stunning silent film Samsara set in 1932 Bali. Several screenings will feature special in-person Q&A sessions with directors, producers, and cinematographers.

All APSA screenings are taking place at HOTA, Home of the Arts, at 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise.

Tickets: Adult $15.50 | HOTA Member $10 | Concession $12

Happyend

Date & Time: Wednesday 12 November, 6:30pm
Runtime: 112 minutes
Rating: M (Coarse language) 

In a near-future Tokyo where the threat of a catastrophic earthquake pervades daily life, two rabble-rousing best friends are about to graduate from high school. One night, they pull a consequential prank on their principal, which leads to a surveillance system being installed in the school. Between the oppressive security system and a darkening national political situation, the two react differently, leading them to confront differences that they never had to face before.  

Screening with a recorded introduction by director Neo Sora, director of Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus and winner of the Young Cinema Award for Happyend at the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 

Cast: Hayato Kurihara, Yukito Hidaka, Yuta Hayashi, Shina Peng
Director: Neo Sora
Genre: Youth drama
Language: Japanese, with English subtitles 

Papa

Date & Time: Monday 24 November, 12:30pm
Runtime: 131 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15+ for violence)

A 15-year-old boy murders his mother and sister. The father, Nin Yuen, returns to his cafe, haunted by memories of a once-happy family: his wife preparing breakfast, his son playing video games, and his daughter caring for their calico cat. Yuen finds himself unable to hate the living or forget the dead. As they confront life’s cruelty, will Yuen and his son’s strained relationship ever find redemption?

Nominated for Best Performance (Sean Lau) in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Sean Lau, Jo Koo, Dylan So
Director: Philip Yung
Genre: Drama
Language: Cantonese, with English subtitles

Village Rockstars 2

Date & Time: Monday 24 November, 4pm
Runtime: 108 minutes
Rating: Unclassified 

In a charming village, a teenage girl passionately pursues her musical dream. However, life’s harsh realities challenge her innocence. As she faces these trials, she embarks on a journey to rediscover the profound connection between music and life, seeking a new harmony in the symphony of her dreams.  

Nominated for Best Youth Film in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and screening with an in-person Q&A with director Rima Das. 

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Bhanita Das, Basanti Das, Junumoni Boro
Director: Rima Das
Genre: Coming-of-age drama
Language: Assamese, with English subtitles 

The Square

Date & Time: Tuesday 25 November, 12:30pm
Runtime: 73 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15+) 

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 local traffic officer. They know their time is limited, so they cherish their secret meetings. One day, after a shady looking man visits their secret meeting spot, Bok-joo suddenly disappears. Borg searches for Bok-joo and becomes suspicious of his interpreter, Lee Myeong-jun.  

Nominated for Best Animated Film in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and screening with an in-person Q&A with director Kim Bo-sol. 

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Jeon Woon-jong, Lee Chan-yong, Lee Ga-young
Director: Kim Bo-sol
Genre: Animation, drama
Language: Korean, with English subtitles 

It Was Just an Accident

Date & Time: Tuesday 25 November, 2:30pm
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15+) 

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

Nominated for Best Film and Best Director in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 

Gold Coast premiere.

Cast: Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi
Director: Jafar Panahi
Genre: Drama
Language: Persian, with English subtitles 

10s Across the Borders

Date & Time: Tuesday 25 November, 6:30pm
Runtime: 110 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15+)

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 York, Sun, Teddy and Xyza create Ballroom communities in Southeast Asia as safe havens from homophobia, transphobia, colour discrimination and HIV stigma. Sun integrates Ballroom into his creative language as a performance artist, while Teddy and Xyza journey to Ballroom’s source in New York City, meeting the icons and pioneers who are their parents from afar.

Nominated for Best Documentary Film in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and screening in an evening gala event with director Chan Sze-Wei and producer Alemberg Ang in attendance.

Australian premiere.

Cast: Aurora Sun Labeija, Teddy Oricci, Xyza Pinklady Mizrahi
Director: Chan Sze-Wei
Genre: Documentary
Languages: Filipino, Mandarin, Malay, Thai, Norwegian, English; with English subtitles
Special gala screening, with tickets available here.

Black Red Yellow

Date & Time: Wednesday 26 November, 12:00pm (midday)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15)

The craft of carpet weaving in Kyrgyzstan boasts a long and legendary history, and is an integral part of local life. Turdugul, known as the most skilled carpet weaver in the valleys, spent years practising this craft in solitude. That was until Kadyr the horse herder entered her life.

Winner of the Cultural Diversity Award in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Australian premiere.

Cast: Nargiza Mamatkulova, Aigul Busurmankulova, Mirlan Abdykalykov
Director: Aktan Arym Kubat
Genre: Drama
Language: Kyrgyz, with English subtitles

Cactus Pears

Date & Time: Wednesday 26 November, 2:30pm
Runtime: 112 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (18+)

Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, bonds with a local farmer who is struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.

Winner of the Young Cinema Award in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Screening with an in-person Q&A with actor Suraaj Suman.

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Bhushaan Manoj, Suraaj Suman, Jayshri Jagtap
Director: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade
Genre: Drama
Language: Marathi, with English subtitles

Samsara

Date & Time: Wednesday 26 November, 7:20pm
Runtime: 80 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15+) 

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 noble Balinese father and an American mother, while Darta is a child from a poor bamboo craftsman family. They came together because since a kid Darta has worked in Sinta’s family household as an offering maker. In their 20s, their friendship becomes intimate and they fall in love with each other. However, after Darta tries to propose to Sinta and gets rejected by her parents, Darta wanders aimlessly while Sinta falls into deep sadness of loss. In his aimless journey, Darta finds a shaman who tells him about a sacrificial Monkey King ritual that could grant him fortune in exchange for sacrificing his future child to the Monkey King. 

Nominated for Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and screening with an in-person Q&A with actress Juliet Widyasari Burnett. 

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Ario Bayu, Juliet Widyasari Burnett, Gus Bang Sada
Director: Garin Nugroho
Genre: Mystical drama
Language: Silent 

We Live Here

Date & Time: Thursday 27 November, 12:00pm (midday)
Runtime: 80 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15)

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 and 1991, 456 nuclear tests left a legacy of radioactive contamination and suffering. As ecologists map uninhabitable areas, a nearby family struggles with the echoes of the past. Convinced their daughter’s illness stems from radiation, they seek proof while she feels torn between love for her homeland and the sense of looming danger it still holds. The steppe becomes a metaphor for our planet, on the brink of becoming a nuclear wasteland.

Nominated for Best Documentary in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Screening with an in-person Q&A with director Zhanana Kurmasheva and producer Banu Ramazanova.

Australian premiere.

Director: Zhanana Kurmasheva
Genre: Documentary
Languages: Kazakh, Russian; with English subtitles

Yunan

Date & Time: Thursday 27 November, 2:30pm
Runtime: 124 minutes
Rating: Unclassified (15)

An exiled Syrian author travels to a remote island in the North Sea to commit suicide. There he stays at a modest hotel run by a devoted elderly woman whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires and instincts for life.

Nominated for Best Cinematography (Ronald Plante) and Best Performance (Georges Khabbaz) in the 18th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Queensland premiere.

Cast: Georges Khabbaz, Hanna Schygulla, Ali Suliman
Director: Ameer Fakher Eldin
Genre: Drama
Languages: German, Arabic; with English subtitles