Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sneha Khanwalkar, Alexander Rodnyansky, Mattie Do, Deepak Rauniyar
APSA announces 2018 International Juries
New APSA Cultural Diversity International Jury to feature:
– first UNESCO representative
– first female filmmakers of Laos, Yemen
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) today announced the full line up for the International Juries for the 12th edition, in the lead up to the prestigious award ceremony on November 29 in Brisbane, Australia. In 2018, four international juries will determine the winners from the 46 films from 22 countries and areas of the region nominated for an APSA, the region’s highest accolade in film.
The appointment of a new CULTURAL DIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL JURY in 2018 highlights the importance APSA places on honouring the region’s cultural diversity on screen and preservation of culture through the art of filmmaking, a forward-thinking aim on a global level that it has shared with Paris-based UNESCO through a 12-year collaboration.
The new jury will determine the winner of the Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO. Two ground-breaking filmmakers feature on the new jury: prolific and acclaimed documentarian and author, and the first female filmmaker from Yemen, Khadija Al-Salami (Jury Chair), and Laos’ first female feature filmmaker and first horror feature filmmaker Mattie Do (Laos). The first ever juror representing APSA founding partner UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), Anthony Krause, Chief of the Policy and Research Unit in the Section for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, completes the inaugural three-person jury.
President of the International Jury for the 12th edition is producer Alexander Rodnyansky, winner of the APSA for Best Feature Film in 2014 for Leviathan (Leviafan). Rodnyansky is one of Russia’s most successful producers and a regular collaborator with acclaimed auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev (APSA winners Loveless, Elena), He also works internationally, producing feature films with directors Tom Tykwer, Lana and Lily Wachowski (Cloud Atlas), Robert Rodriguez (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) and Billy Bob Thornton (Jayne Mansfield’s Car). Alongside Loveless and Leviathan, he has produced two additional Academy Award® nominees for Best Foreign Language Film: A Chef in Love (1996) and East/West (1999).
Joining Rodnyansky in Brisbane to determine the winners across the six feature narrative awards are: award-winning Indonesian director and producer Nia Dinata (Arisan!, Love for Share, Three Sassy Sisters), internationally-acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar (Highway, White Sun), prominent Georgian producer Vladimer Katcharava (Dede, Girls of the Sun) and well-known Chilean actress Antonia Zegers (Los Perros, A Fantastic Woman). Zegers’ appointment, recognises the newly established APSA Awards Alliance with Ibero-America’s Platino Awards, and was made possible through a grant from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR).
The Youth, Animation, Documentary International Jury will determine the winners across the three categories. Chair of the jury will be Australian documentarian and a founder and CEO of the Documentary Australia Foundation, Mitzi Goldman (A Common Purpose), who will be joined on the jury by Bangladesh’s multi award-winning feminist filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain (Meherjaan) and Luke Hetherington, Executive in Charge at LucasFilm’s VFX and Animation studio, Industrial Light & Magic, based in Singapore.
The previously announced Music in Film International Jury is comprised of internationally renowned composer, musician and APSA Academy member Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan, Jury Chair), Indian composer and Music Director Sneha Khanwalkar (Manto, Gangs of Wasseypur) and Australian composer, conductor and musician Nigel Westlake (Babe, Paper Planes, Miss Potter).
The jurors, who hail from 12 different countries, will be inducted into the prestigious APSA Academy.
QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE TO:
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk:
“The Asia Pacific Screen Awards are important to the city of Brisbane because they strengthen our significant business and cultural ties with the region”.
“The Awards are a great drawcard for film business events, helping to transform Brisbane into an Asia Pacific cultural hub and position us as destination to do the business of film.”
“They continue to shine a spotlight on powerful Asia Pacific stories, foster cross-cultural dialogue and celebrate filmmakers whose accomplishments too often go unrecognised.”
Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins:
“It is an honour for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to have such eminent filmmakers from across the region as valued jurors and we thank them all for their generous contribution. With particular thanks to the awards’ founding partner UNESCO, APSA is very pleased to announce the Cultural Diversity International Jury which will see UNESCO formally represented on an APSA jury for the first time.”
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO:
“UNESCO’s lasting partnership with APSA is grounded in our common commitment to promoting cultural diversity and creative industries as channels for freedom of artistic expression and sustainable development.
The “Cultural Diversity Award” reflects our belief in the power of cinema to spread tolerance and peace in audiences worldwide. I am especially proud that this year, for the first time, UNESCO joined the Jury in selecting the winner of the 2018 Cultural Diversity Award.”
Media contact: ABCG Film for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Alicia Brescianini 0400 225 603 / [email protected]
Cathy Gallagher 0416 227 282 / [email protected]
APSA 2018 International Juries – full list
International Jury
Alexander Rodnyansky (Ukraine/Russian Federation) – Jury President
Nia Dinata (Indonesia)
Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal)
Vladimer Katcharava (Georgia)
Antonia Zegers (Chile)
Youth, Animation and Documentary International Jury
Mitzi Goldman (Australia) – Jury Chair
Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh)
Luke Hetherington (Australia/Singapore)
Cultural Diversity International Jury
Khadija Al-Salami (Yemen) – Jury Chair
Anthony Krause (UNESCO)
Mattie Do (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)
Music in Film International Jury
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan) – Jury Chair
Sneha Khanwalkar (India)
Nigel Westlake (Australia)
ABOUT THE ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS & ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN ACADEMY
The region’s highest accolade in film, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, based in Brisbane, Australia, are supported by Brisbane City Council and managed by economic development board Brisbane Marketing. APSA recognises and promotes the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world’s film output.
APSA and its Academy is committed to its ongoing global partnerships with UNESCO, FIAPF, the European Film Academy (EFA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Premios Platino del Cine Iberoamericano, NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema), the Asia Pacific Screen Lab (APSL) and Griffith Film School.
All APSA nominees, International Nominations Council, Selection Panels and International Jury members are inducted into the prestigious APSA Academy presided over by Australian screen legend Jack Thompson AM PhD. The Academy boasts over 1,200 of the region’s leading filmmakers and provides exclusive networking, development and funding opportunities available to Academy members through the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, and Academy mentoring opportunities for the next generation of Asia Pacific filmmakers through the Asia Pacific Screen Lab.