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

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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 present. 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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