The Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations Council meets this week in Brisbane, Australia, to determine the finalists in the second Asia Pacific Screen Awards – the APSAs – the highest accolade for film in the region in 2008.
The nominations for the APSAs will be announced on October 1, with the Awards ceremony to be held on November 11 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
The winners in each category will be determined by an International Jury, headed by Academy Award nominated director Bruce Beresford. The Jury meets on the Gold Coast from November 5.
The Nominations Council is drawn from high profile film festivals and film organisations across Asia-Pacific.
The Nominations Council Chair is Hong-Joon Kim, Programming Director of the Chungmuro International Film Festival, and Associate Professor, Department of Film, School of Film, TV and Multimedia, Korean National University of Arts. His fellow Nominations Council members are Mohammad Atebbai, Managing Director, Iranian Independents ; Philip Cheah, Board Director, Singapore International Film Festival; Russell Edwards, an Australian film critic for Variety magazine and former President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia; Xie Fei, Professor, Beijing Film Academy and a film director; Anne Démy-Geroe, Executive Director, Brisbane International Film Festival; Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, Founding Director, Hawaii International Film Festival and President, iFilm Connections: Asia & Pacific; Soheir Abdel Kader, Vice-President of the Cairo International Film Festival and the Director of the Cairo International Film Festival for Children; Azize Tan, Director, International Istanbul Film Festival; Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts; and Aruna Vasudev, Founder-President, Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema; Founder-Director OSIAN’S CINEFAN.
Films have been entered in the 2008 APSAs by one of 40 Official Submission Organisations across the region or by invitation by a member of the APSA Nominations Council. The submitted films were assessed earlier this month by the Advisory Committee to the Nominations Council, headed by Hawai’in Academic Konrad Ng, in the first stage of the deliberations process.
“The response to the call for entries in 2008 was remarkable, with more than 180 films from 43 countries entered in the Awards. Our Nominations Council is a highly credentialed group, specialising in cinema from Asia-Pacific, who now have the demanding task of determining the nominees in nine APSA categories. APSA is very grateful to the members of the Nominations Council for their commitment and expertise,” said APSA Chairman Des Power.
Originating countries and territories include Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Japan, Republic of Korea, the People’s Republic of China, New Zealand, Palestine, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Turkey, Nepal, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.
In 2008, Awards will be presented for Best Feature Film, Best Animated Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Children’s Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay, Achievement in Cinematography, Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor.
Two additional major Awards will be presented for outstanding achievement: The FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region; and the UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film.
The Jury can, at its discretion, present a further Award: the Jury Grand Prize.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards – the APSAs – acclaim, at a global level, the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Asia-Pacific region in a unique collaboration with CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF–International Federation of Film Producers Associations.