Wang Qun (People’s Republic of China), Maxine Williamson (APSA - Artisitic Director), Jocelyne Saab (Lebanon), Philip Cheah (Singapore), Hong-Joon Kim (Republic of Korea), Anne Démy-Geroe (Australia), Aruna Vasudev (India) and Kathryn Weir (Australia).
APSA COMPETITION CLOSES
264 outstanding films entered from 38 countries
APSA International Nominations Council meets in Brisbane
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the region’s highest accolade in film, bring together the most outstanding films from the Asia Pacific region. An impressive 264 films from 38 Asia Pacific countries and areas have been entered in competition for this year’s sixth annual APSAs and include films by venerated auteurs and emerging filmmakers alike.
The APSA International Nominations Council has gathered in Brisbane and will announce its nominations in the Best Feature Film and five craft award categories in early October along with the Best Children’s, Documentary and Animated Feature Films nominees which are determined by APSA Academy members.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony will be held on Friday November 23 in Brisbane, Australia.
This year’s competition also includes major box office hits from Australia, People’s Republic of China, India, Republic of Korea and Taiwan and the first feature film from a female director from Saudi Arabia.
The final competition line-up includes new films from Lu Chuan, Bahman Ghobadi, Anurag Kashyap, Abbas Kiarostami, Kim Ki-duk, Eran Riklis, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Takashi Miike, Brillante Mendoza, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Johnnie To, Rolf de Heer, George Miller, Anne-Marie Jacir, Hur Jin-ho, Rama Burstein, Ann Hui, Joseph Cedar, Hong Sang-soo, Goro Miyazaki, PJ Hogan and Wayne Blair.
APSA Artistic Director Maxine Williamson praised the high calibre of films in competition in 2012: “This has been an extraordinarily strong year in film from the region, and the high calibre of entries means it is going to be a particularly tough job for the APSA International Nominations Council.”
The APSA International Nominations Council is comprised of eminent film practitioners and is chaired by Hong-Joon Kim(Republic of Korea), award-winning director and scriptwriter and Professor of the Department of Film at the Korea National University of Arts.
Other members of the Nominations Council are:
Philip Cheah (Singapore), President of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC), film critic with over 25 years experience in programming film festivals across Asia including Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival, South-east Asian Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival and the Asia Pacific Films website.
Anne Démy-Geroe (Australia) is Co-Artistic Director of the Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA), is a current NETPAC board member, and is a previous Executive Director of the Brisbane International Film Festival.
Aruna Vasudev (India) is the Founder of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema. She is the Founder-Editor of Cinemaya, The Asian Film Quarterly, 1988–2004, Founder-Director of CINEFAN, the Cinemaya Festival of Asian Cinema 1999-2004 and Co-Founder- Director of The Inner Path Buddhist Festival.
Wang Qun (People’s Republic of China) is an award-winning screenwriter in film and television and a researcher of film theory at the China Film Art Research Centre, China Film Archive. She is a member of the China Film Association and the Council of Beijing Film Association.
Jocelyne Saab (Lebanon) is a writer, director and producer. She has made acclaimed documentary films in Lebanon, the Spanish Sahara, Egypt and Iran. Her feature film debut, Suspended Life (1985), was shot in Beirut during the civil war and selected for the Festival de Cannes, and her later feature film Dunia – Kiss Me Not on the Eyes (2005), was selected for the world competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kathryn Weir (Australia), Head of Australian Cinémathèque and Head Curator of International Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Weir worked previously at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and in film production in Amsterdam.
Maxine Williamson (Australia), Artistic Director of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
WATCH THE APSA CEREMONY WEBCAST LIVE at www.asiapacificscreenawards.com