FILMS FROM AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, CHINA LEAD NOMINATIONS
The nominations for the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the region’s highest accolade in film, celebrating cinematic excellence were today announced in the seven narrative feature categories by Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, together with former APSA International Jury President Lord David Puttnam, member of the APSA 2017 Nominations Council Kiki Fung and Chair of APSA and its Academy, Michael Hawkins.
41 films from 25 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region have received nominations in 2017, including the first nomination for a film from Bhutan. Winners will be announced at the 11th APSA ceremony on November 23, where they will be presented with a unique and exquisite handmade APSA award vessel made by Brisbane-based internationally awarded glass artist Joanna Bone.
Competing for the APSA for Best Feature Film in 2017 are Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White (Jia Nian Hua, People’s Republic of China, France), Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot (Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland), Sergei Loznitsa’s A Gentle Creature (Krotkaya; France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands), Mohammad Rasoulof’s A Man of Integrity (Lerd; Islamic Republic of Iran) and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country (Australia). For the first time in the history of the event, three of these extraordinary filmmakers have had previous films win Asia Pacific Screen Awards: Vivien Qu (Black Coal, Thin Ice, 2014), Samuel Maoz (Lebanon, 2010), Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah, 2009). Additionally, Mohammad Rasoulof ‘s Goodbye, received three nominations in 2011.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said “These five films tell unique stories from Australia, China, Iran, Israel and Russia, each representing the incredible diversity and high calibre of filmmaking from the Asia Pacific region. This is an significant opportunity for our city to host some of the world’s most respected names in film and a great chance for our local and national film industry to forge new connections with the region. The Asia Pacific Screen Awards helps to elevate Brisbane’s position as a cultural hub and is a testament to our role as a leader in the region.”
Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins said ”As APSA forges into its 11th year, it is significant to note that amongst the nominees there are not only a great number of newer filmmakers, but also a large number of filmmakers who are already a part of the growing Asia Pacific Screen Academy, which was created precisely to encompass and connect the large body of talented filmmakers in the Asia Pacific Region. Significantly, this year there are APSA Academy members nominated across almost all categories, and we look forward to welcoming all of the nominees both to Brisbane as well as into the growing Academy”.
Across all Awards and Achievements, which encompasses the films judged by two International Juries, films from Australia, Japan and People’s Republic of China lead the nomination tally with six each.
Three films have received three nominations each:
– Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country (Australia) received three nominations in total. As well as Best Feature Film, the film also received nominations for Achievement in Cinematography (the father and son team of Warwick Thornton and Dylan River) and Best Screenplay (David Tranter and Steven McGregor). Warwick Thornton’s Samson and Delilah won the APSA for Best Feature Film award in 2009 and is the only Australian film ever to win in this category.
– Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film The Third Murder (Sandome no Satsujin, Japan) is also nominated for three APSAs in 2017. A Japanese auteur and APSA Academy member, Kore-eda is nominated for Achievement in Directing and Best Screenplay, and eminent performer Koji Yakusho is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor. Kore-eda has previously received APSA nominations for his films I Wish (Kiseki) in 2009 and Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi Ni Naru) in 2013.
– Also receiving three nominations is Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda; Georgia, Estonia), nominated for Achievement in Directing (Ana Urushadze), Achievement in Cinematography (Mindia Esadze) and Best Performance by an Actress (Nata Murvanidze).
Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev is again an APSA nominee, receiving an Achievement in Directing nomination for Loveless (Nelyubov; Russian Federation, Belgium, France, Germany). An APSA Academy member, Zvyagintsev won the APSA for Best Feature Film in 2014 for Leviathan, which also received a further two nominations including Achievement in Directing. Zvyagintsev received a High Commendation for directing Elena, which also won Best Performance by an Actress, in 2011. Also receiving nominations for the Achievement in Directing APSA are Mouly Surya for Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak; Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand) and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan for Sexy Durga (India).
Completing the Best Screenplay Award alongside Sweet Country and The Third Murder are Mayank Tewari and Amit V Masurkar for Newton (India), Boris Khlebnikov and Natalia Meshchaninova for Arrhythmia (Aritmiya; Russian Federation, Finland, Germany) and Dastan Zhapar Uulu and Bakyt Mukul for A Father’s Will (Atanyn Kereezi, Kyrgyzstan).
Achievement in Cinematography nominations went to films from People’s Republic of China, Georgia, Russian Federation, India and Australia. In addition to Mindia Esadze for Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda) and Warwick Thornton and Dylan River for Sweet Country, the nominees are 2015 APSA Cinematography winner Lyu Songye for Ghost in the Mountains (Kong Shan Yi Ke, People’s Republic of China), Pyotr Dukhovskoy and Timofey Lobov for The Bottomless Bag (Meshok Bez Dna, Russian Federation) and Shehnad Jalal for Lady of the Lake (Loktak Lairembee, India).
Five extraordinary performances are nominated for Best Performance by an Actress. They are Cut Mini for Emma’ (Mother) (Athirah, Indonesia), Ecem Uzun for Clair Obscur (Tereddüt; Turkey, France, Germany, Poland), Na Moon-hee for I Can Speak (Republic of Korea), Nata Murvanidze for Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda; Georgia, Estonia) and Zhou Xun for Our Time Will Come (Ming Yue Ji Shi You, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong (PRC)). Zhou Xun was previously nominated in 2009 for The Equation of Love and Death (Li Mi De Caixiang).
Actors from Islamic Republic of Iran, Philippines, Japan, India and Palestine will compete for Best Performance by an Actor. Nominated are Paolo Ballesteros for Die Beautiful (Philippines), Koji Yakusho for The Third Murder (Sandome no Satsujin, Japan) and Rajkummar Rao for Newton (India). Navid Mohammadzadeh for No Date, No Signature (Bedoune Tarikh, Bedoune Emza; Islamic Republic of Iran) who was previously nominated in 2014 for I’m Not Angry!, (Asabani Nistam!). Father and son actors share the final nominations as the APSA International Nominations Council were unable to separate the performances of Mohammad Bakri & Saleh Bakri. Both nominated for Wajib (Duty; Palestine, Colombia, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates) because each were integral to the other. This is the second nomination for Mohammad Bakri following his 2009 nomination for Eid Milad Laila (Laila’s Birthday), while his other son Adam Bakri was also nominated in 2013 for Hany Abu Assad’s APSA Best Feature Film winner Omar.
The APSA Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) is an award which represents the shared common goals of APSA and UNESCO, to promote diversity of cultural expression and raise awareness of the value of culture at local, national and international levels.
The nominees in this prestigious and important Award are: Centaur (Kyrgyzstan, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands), Dede (Georgia, Croatia, Netherlands, Qatar, United Kingdom), Die Beautiful (Philippines) Honeygiver Among the Dogs (Munmo Tashi Khyidron, Bhutan) and Lady of the Lake (Loktak Lairembee, India).
Winners in these Awards and Achievements will be determined by the APSA International Jury, headed in 2017 by acclaimed Australian film editor Jill Bilcock, joined by Filipino writer/director Adolfo Alix Jr, Chinese actress He Saifei, Tokyo Film Festival Programmer Yoshi Yatabe and Kazakh writer, director and cinematographer Adilkhan Yerzhanov.
Winners in the three remaining Awards of previously announced Best Youth Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film and Best Animation Feature Film are judged by a second Jury – this year comprised of the internationally acclaimed filmmakers and APSA Academy members Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) and Melanie Coombs (Australia), together with renowned British producer Steve Abbott representing APSA’s Academy Alliance with the European Film Academy (EFA). A full list of these nominees is at the end of this press release.
The nominations were drawn from the 298 films that were In Competition for APSA. The nominees were decided by the International Nominations Council from 47 Asia Pacific countries and areas – the largest country spread to date, which for the first time featured a film from Oman. In 2017, 26% of films In Competition were directed by women and 51% were directed by first or second time filmmakers.
An additional two awards will be presented at the ceremony, the APSA Young Cinema Award and the FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film.
Now in its second year, the APSA Young Cinema Award presented by NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) and Griffith Film School (GFS) will be presented at the ceremony. This important Award recognises the abundant emerging talent of Asia Pacific which increases in prevalence in the APSA competition each year. The award is eligible to directors of debut or sophomore feature narrative films, with the recipient chosen from the APSA feature narrative film competition.
The APSA FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film, to be announced soon and presented at the APSA ceremony, celebrates a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the film industry.
APSA – Background
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, based in Brisbane, is supported by Brisbane City Council and managed by its economic development board, Brisbane Marketing. APSA has the privilege of a unique collaboration with Paris-based UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and recognises and promotes cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and is responsible for half of the world’s film output.
Nominees and Jury members are inducted into the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, making them eligible to apply for the 2017 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. The Fund was created to support, at script stage, new feature film projects originated by APSA Academy members and their colleagues across Asia Pacific. The fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually, and is wholly supported by the MPA (Motion Picture Association).
APSA and its Academy is committed to its ongoing collaborations with UNESCO, FIAPF, the European Film Academy (EFA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), NETPAC (the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), the Asia Pacific Screen Lab (APSL) and Griffith Film School.
11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards – Full list of nominated films
BEST FEATURE FILM
Angels Wear White (Jia Nian Hua)
People’s Republic of China, France
Produced by Sean CHEN
Co-Produced by Alain DE LA MATA
Directed by Vivian QU
Foxtrot
Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland
Produced by Michael WEBER, Viola FÜGEN, Eitan MANSURI, Cedomir KOLAR, Marc BASCHET, Michel MERKT
Directed by Samuel MAOZ
A Gentle Creature (Krotkaya)
France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands
Produced by Marianne SLOT
Co-Produced by Valentina MIKHALEVA, Galina SEMENTSEVA, Lev KARAKHAN, Gunnar DEDIO, Uljana KIM, Peter WARNIER, Marc VAN WARMERDAM, Serge LAWRENYUK
Directed by Sergei LOZNITSA
A Man of Integrity (Lerd)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Produced by Mohammad RASOULOF
Co-Produced by Kaveh FARNAM, Rozita HENDIJANIAN, Michal KŘEČEK
Directed by Mohammad RASOULOF
Sweet Country
Australia
Produced by Greer SIMPKIN, David JOWSEY
Co-Produced by David TRANTER
Directed by Warwick THORNTON
BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM
Big Big World (Koca Dünya)
Turkey
Produced by Ömer ATAY
Directed by Reha ERDEM
Jasper Jones
Australia
Produced by Vincent SHEEHAN, David JOWSEY
Directed by Rachel PERKINS
The Seen and Unseen (Sekala Niskala)
Indonesia, Netherlands, Australia, Qatar
Produced by Gita FARA, Kamila ANDINI, Ifa ISFANSYAH
Directed by Kamila ANDINI
The Skier (Ski-Baz)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Produced by Mohammad AHMADI
Directed by Fereidoun NAJAFI
The Summer is Gone (Ba Yue)
People’s Republic of China
Produced by ZHAO Yanming, ZHANG Jian, LI Liangwen
Directed by ZHANG Dalei
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Have a Nice Day (Da Shi Jia)
People’s Republic of China
Produced by YANG Cheng, LIU Jian
Co-Produced by JIN Rui
Directed by LIU Jian
Saving Sally
Philippines, France
Produced by Avid LIONGOREN, Alain DE LA MATA, Hervé PENNEQUIN, Catherine JACQUES
Directed by Avid LIONGOREN
A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi)
Japan
Produced by OHASHI Nagaharu, TATEISHI Kensuke, UETSUKI Mikio, NAKAMURA Shinichi, IIZUKA Toshio
Directed by Naoko YAMADA
Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming
Canada
Directed and Produced by Ann Marie FLEMING
Co-Produced by Shirley VERCRUYSSE, Michael FUKUSHIMA
your name. (kimi no na wa)
Japan
Produced by Genki KAWAMURA, Noritaka KAWAGUCHI
Directed by Makoto SHINKAI
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web
New Zealand
Produced by Alexander BEHSE
Directed and Co-Produced by Annie GOLDSON
Last Men in Aleppo
Syrian Arab Republic, Denmark, Germany
Produced by Søren Steen JESPERSEN, Kareem ABEED, Stefan KLOOS
Directed by Feras FAYYAD
The Opposition
Australia, Papua New Guinea
Produced by Rebecca BARRY, Madeleine HETHERTON, Hollie FIFER
Directed by Hollie FIFER
Taste of Cement
Germany, Lebanon, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, Qatar
Produced by Ansgar FRERICH, Eva KEMME, Tobias N. SIEBERT
Directed by Ziad KALTHOUM
A Yangtze Landscape (Changjiang)
People’s Republic of China
Produced by XU Feixue, LU Zhixin, ZHANG Jun
Directed by XU Xin
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Ana URUSHADZE for Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda)
Georgia, Estonia
Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV for Loveless (Nelyubov)
Russian Federation, Belgium, France, Germany
KORE-EDA Hirokazu for The Third Murder (Sandome no Satsujin)
Japan
Mouly SURYA for Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak)
Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand
Sanal KUMAR SASIDHARAN for Sexy Durga
India
BEST SCREENPLAY
Amit V MASURKAR, Mayank TEWARI for Newton
India
Boris KHLEBNIKOV, Natalia MESHCHANINOVA for Arrhythmia (Aritmiya)
Russian Federation, Finland, Germany
Dastan ZHAPAR UULU, Bakyt MUKUL for A Father’s Will (Atanyn Kereezi)
Kyrgyzstan
David TRANTER, Steven MCGREGOR for Sweet Country
Australia
KORE-EDA Hirokazu for The Third Murder (Sandome no Satsujin)
Japan
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
LYU Songye for Ghost in the Mountains (Kong Shan Yi Ke)
People’s Republic of China
Mindia ESADZE for Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda)
Georgia, Estonia
Pyotr DUKHOVSKOY, Timofey LOBOV for The Bottomless Bag (Meshok Bez Dna)
Russian Federation
Shehnad JALAL for Lady of the Lake (Loktak Lairembee)
India
Warwick THORNTON, Dylan RIVER for Sweet Country
Australia
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Cut MINI for Emma’ (Mother) (Athirah)
Indonesia
Ecem UZUN for Clair Obscur (Tereddüt)
Turkey, France, Germany, Poland
NA Moon-hee for I Can Speak
Republic of Korea
Nata MURVANIDZE for Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda)
Georgia, Estonia
ZHOU Xun for Our Time Will Come (Ming Yue Ji Shi You)
People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong (PRC)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Navid MOHAMMADZADEH for No Date, No Signature (Bedoune Tarikh, Bedoune Emza)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Paolo BALLESTEROS for Die Beautiful
Philippines
KOJI Yakusho for The Third Murder (Sandome no Satsujin)
Japan
Rajkummar RAO for Newton
India
Mohammad BAKRI, Saleh BAKRI for Wajib (Duty)
Palestine, Colombia, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF UNESCO
Centaur
Kyrgyzstan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan
Directed by Aktan ARYM KUBAT
Produced by Altynai KOICHUMANOVA, Cedomir KOLAR, Marc BASCHET, Danis TANOVIC, Thanassis KARATHANOS, Martin HAMPEL, Gulmira KERIMOVA, Denis VASLIN, Fleur KNOPPERTS, Yuji SADAI
Dede
Georgia, Croatia, Netherlands, Qatar, United Kingdom
Directed by Mariam KHATCHVANI
Produced by Vladimer KATCHARAVA, Samantha TAYLOR, Mike DOWNEY, Igor NOVA
Co-Produced by Conrad ALLEBLAS, Jamillah VAN DER HULST
Die Beautiful
Philippines
Directed by Jun ROBLES LANA
Produced by Ferdinand LAPUZ, Jun ROBLES LANA
Honeygiver Among the Dogs (Munmo Tashi Khyidron)
Bhutan
Directed by Dechen RODER
Produced by Dechen RODER, Esther KOO
Lady of the Lake (Loktak Lairembee)
India
Directed by Haobam PABAN KUMAR
Produced by Haobam PABAN KUMAR
Co-Produced by Thiyam ROMOLA DEVI, Haobam IBETOMBI, Warepam JHANSIRANI