Republic of Korea

Hong-Joon Kim

Chair, International Nominations Council

Professor, Department of Film, School of Film, TV and Multimedia, Korea National University of Arts. Hong-Joon Kim was Festival Director of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and Commissioner of the Korean Film Council from 2000-2005. His published books include I, a Filmmaker: Kim Hong-Joon’s Film Notes and Two Or Three Things You Want To Know About Movies. Hong-Joon Kim is an award-winning director, and screenwriter of films including Jungle Story and La Vie En Rose. He hosted and co-wrote the television series Korean Classical Cinema Special.

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Indonesia

Nan Achnas

International Nominations Council Member

Producer, Director
Nan Achnas has directed and written numerous documentaries including The Days of Mrs. Marni, Women and Water, Minangkabau: and The Little Gayo Singer. She also wrote and directed a documentary on Indonesian women workers entitled Invisible Garments, Expensive Soles followed by Soul Custodian, a documentary about afterlife in the Torajan culture. In 1997 she produced, directed and wrote a collective feature film with three other directors entitled Kuldesak and following that, she directed and co-wrote Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sands), which won nine international awards including Best New Director at the 2002 Asia-Pacific International Film Festival and screened in competition at Pusan, Rotterdam, Deauville, Seattle and Thessaloniki. In 2002 she produced and directed Bendera (The Flag) which was in competition at the 2003 Tokyo International Film Festival. Her latest feature entitled The Photograph won the Grand Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The project has won several script development awards including Rotterdam’s Prince Claus Fund. She also co-produced the APSA nominated Pesantren: 3 Wishes 3 Loves, directed by Nurman Hakim. Nan teaches cinema studies at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts.

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Taiwan

Peggy Chiao

International Nominations Council Member

Peggy Chiao is a film producer based in Taiwan. She was the former Chairwoman of the prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival and a pioneer who cultivated the co-production of films between China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She is one of the major reasons that many Taiwanese directors such as Edward Yang, Ang Lee, Hou Hsiao Hsien and Tsai Mingliang enjoy success both domestically and internationally. Her film collaborations with such respected directors as Li Yu, Wang Xiaoshuai, Li Shaohong, Liu Fendao, Ann Hui, Stanley Kwan, Tsai Mingliang and Lin Chengsheng, have garnered her international acclaim, including two Silver Bears at Berlin, the Golden Hugo of Chicago, two grand prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival, the FIPRESCI awards of the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Horse Film Festival. Peggy has also sat on the jury of various international film festivals, is currently producing four films and teaching at the Graduate Institute of Filmmaking at the prestigious National Taipei University of the Arts.

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Australia

Anne Démy-Geroe

International Nominations Council Member

Film Scholar and former Executive Director, Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF)
Anne Démy-Geroe is the former Executive Director of the Brisbane International Film Festival, where she began as the inaugural Artistic Director in 1991. Her interest in Asian cinema led to the establishment of the sole Australian NETPAC jury at BIFF and a FIPRESCI jury for Asia-Pacific cinema. BIFF also boasts the only Australian Film Festival for Young people, Cinesparks. Anne was an organiser for the Queensland Images Film Festival in 1989, has worked on the annual Queensland New Filmmakers Awards for many years, Silent Film Festivals and Queensland regional film festivals. She is a judge on the prestigious Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and a past Council Member of the National Film and Sound Archive. She has served on international juries from Hawaii to Tehran for NETPAC and others. In 2003, Anne was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal for services to the film industry. She is currently undertaking her Phd in Iranian Cinema. In her leisure time, Anne also ‘tries to play’ Japanese end-blown flute, the Shakuhachi.

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Australia

Russell Edwards

International Nominations Council Member

Film Critic for Variety
Russell Edwards is a Sydney-based film critic reviewing Asian and Australian films for leading international trade publication Variety. He was president of The Film Critics Circle of Australia from 2004 to 2006; is a regular attendee of Asia’s film festival circuit; and has been a FIPRESCI juror at the Pusan International Film Festival twice, including Jury Chairman in 2003. Russell Edwards’ main area of expertise is Korean and Japanese cinema; and he is well-versed in Australian and American film history. A board member of the Sydney Film Festival from 1996 to 1999, Russell also advised the now defunct Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival from 1999 to 2004. Russell has also directed short films. His most recent film The Agreement (2006) played at numerous major festivals around the world and was screened on SBS Television.

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India

Maithili Rao

International Nominations Council Member

Maithili Rao is a Bombay based freelance film critic who has written extensively for Indian and international publications including Man’s World, Hindu, Frontline, Cinema In India, Film Comment, International Film Guide and the website for the British Film Institute. Ms Rao is a regular contributor to the South Asian Cinema Foundation and is a member of its editorial board which includes wellknown film critics, historians, filmmakers and people from the world of cinema in South Asia and the west. Rao has contributed chapters to several books on Indian Cinema: “Rebels without a cause” for the Encyclopædia Britannica India volume on Hindi cinema; “Heart of the Hindi Film” for Bollywood, Dakini publications, London; “To be a Woman” for Frames of Mind, Indian Council for Cultural Relations; “Images of Women” for Rasa, vol ii, edited by Chidananda Das Gupta, “The Man who spoke in pictures”, on Bimal Roy published by Penguin and Amitabh Bachchan for “Icons”, published by Roli Books. Maithili Rao has served as a Jury member at the International Children’s Film Festival (Hyderabad), the Bombay Documentary Film Festival and served on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Sochi International Film Festival.

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Japan

Yuka Sakano

International Nominations Council Member

Head of International Relations, Kawakita Memorial Film Institute
Yuka Sakano is the primary Japanese correspondent for the Cannes International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. Ms Sakano has also served on the NETPAC jury for international festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Hawaii and Locarno. Yuka Sakano is the Head of International Relations at the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute. The Institute houses an extensive collection of film archives and serves as the foremost resource on Japanese film for international festivals and organisations.

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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.

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