Nominees from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region region are gathering on the Gold Coast, Australia for the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be presented on Tuesday November 13.
Nominees across all Asia Pacific Screen Award categories will be attending, including four of the five Achievement in Directing nominees – Nadine Labaki for CARAMEL (Lebanon), Shawkat Amin Korki for CROSSING THE DUST (PARINAWA LA GHOBAR) (Iraq/Kurdistan), Peng Tao for LITTLE MOTH (XUE CHAN) (China) and Zhanna Issabayeva for KAROY (Kazakhstan).
Nadine Labaki and Zhanna Issabayeva are representative of the vibrant community of women filmmakers from the region. Shawkat Amin Korki, born in Iraqi Kurdistan but forced to flee to Iran until 1999, is an award-winning director of short films; CROSSING THE DUST is his first feature. LITTLE MOTH is the feature debut by Chinese director Peng Tao.
CARAMEL, an international box office hit, will also be represented by producer Anne Dominique Toussaint for the Best Feature Film category. The cast has been nominated in an ensemble in the Best Performance by an Actress category. Director/writer Nadine Labaki stars in the film and will be joined on the Gold Coast by fellow cast member and nominee, Gisele Aouad, also from Lebanon.
Revered Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho, nominated for Best Film for OPERA JAWA, which recently won the Silver Screen Award at the Singapore Film Festival, will attend the Awards..
Renowned Indian theatre director turned screenwriter and director Feroz Abbas Khan, nominated for his screenplay for Gandhi, My Father will attend the Awards; along with Australian writer/director Michael James Rowland nominated for his screenplay for LUCKY MILES.
In the Best Animated Feature Film category, producer Hansen Liang, nominated for THE BIG FIGHTING BETWEEN WUKONG AND GOD ERLANG (WUKONG DA ZHAN ER LANG SHEN) (China), and producer Noritaka Kawaguchi, nominated for 5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND (BYOSOKU 5 CENTIMETERS) (Japan) will represent their films.
In the Best Documentary Feature Film category, all five nominated films will be represented by a producer: Mai Masri – BEIRUT DIARIES: TRUTH, LIES AND VIDEOS (YAOUMIYAT BEIRUT: HAKAEK WA AKATHEEB) (Lebanon), Wang Yan – A GREAT MASTER RECAPTURED (YOU JIAN MEI LAN FANG) (China), Vahid Mousaine Simani – THE LOST LAND (SARZAMINE GOMSHODEH) (Iran), Inna Sahakyan – Associate Producer – A STORY OF PEOPLE IN WAR AND PEACE (Armenia), and Tan Chui Mui – VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW (APA KHABAR ORANG KAMPUNG) (Malaysia).
In the Best Children’s Feature category, all five nominated films will be represented by the producers: Menardo “Butch” Jimenez and Socorro Fernandez for THE BICYCLE (GULONG) (Philippines), Ari Sihasale for DENIAS, SINGING ON THE CLOUD (DENIAS, SENANDUNG DI ATAS AWAN) (Indonesia), Hassan Agha-Karimi for LOCKSMITH (GHOFL-SAZ) (Iran), Antonio Gloria for MOTHER NANNY (INANG YAYA) (Philippines) and Puad Onah for MUKHSIN (Malaysia).
Three nominated cinematographers will travel to Queensland, Australia, for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards: Wang Yu for THE GO MASTER (WU QINGYUAN) (China), Sergey Trofimov – MONGOL (Russian Federation) and Palitha Perera – SANKARA (Sri Lanka).
In the Best Performance by an Actress category, Nadine Labaki and Gisele Aouad will represent the six members of the ensemble cast nominated for CARAMEL. Joan Chen, nominated for THE HOME SONG STORIES, is unable to attend the ceremony and will be represented by the film’s director Tony Ayres.
Two young actors have been nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor category. Twenty-year-old Ryu Deok-hwan from Korea, who stars in LIKE A VIRGIN (CHEON HA JANG SA MADONNA), and 19-year-old Mehrdad Sedighian, nominated for NIGHT BUS (AUTOBUS-E SHAB) (Iran), his first leading role.
“I am delighted in this inaugural year of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to welcome so many nominees from the vast Asia-Pacific region. The nominees come from many different cultures, and are widely divergent in age and experience, yet they all share our common aims to promote and preserve the cultures of the region and acclaim its filmmaking excellence,” said Des Power, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
In 2007, Awards will be presented in the following categories:
- 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
- Best Performance by an Actor
In addition, two special awards will be announced:
- The FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region.
- The UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is also producing television programs attached to the inaugural 2007 Awards for global broadcast on CNN International.
The programs, titled Scene By Scene, will carry stories and interviews about the region’s film industry. Scene By Scene – Films of Asia Pacific will screen on CNN International on November 10 prior to the Awards ceremony on November 13. The second program, Scene By Scene – Best Films of Asia Pacific, incorporates the Awards ceremony and will screen around the world on November 17 and 18.
FIAPF – The International Federation of Film Producers Associations has endorsed the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Charter.
The Director General of UNESCO has given his formal endorsement for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be conducted under the auspices of UNESCO.