Brisbane: Nominees in the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) Youth, Animation and Documentary Feature Film categories were announced today along with the International Jury who will determine the winners in each of the three awards. The winners will be announced at the prestigious APSA Ceremony on Thursday 24 November in Brisbane, Australia, with nominees in attendance.
Films competing for APSA Best Youth Feature Film are:
- Breath (Nafas, Islamic Republic of Iran) which world premiered at Fajr Film Festival this year winning awards in both the National and International Competition
- Winner of Best Marathi Film at 63rd National Film Awards in India The Quest (Ringan, India)
- Berlinale Crystal Bear Generation Kplus winner, Malayalam film The Trap (Ottaal, India)
- Wolf and Sheep (Afghanistan, Denmark, France, Sweden) which world premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, picking up the Art Cinema Award
- The World of Us (Woorideul, Republic of Korea) which world premiered and was nominated for the Crystal Bear in Berlinale’s 2016 Generation Kplus program
Films competing for APSA Best Animated Feature Film are
- United Arab Emirates’ first animated feature Bilal (United Arab Emirates, United States of America) which picked up Best Inspiring Movie at Cannes’ 2016 Animation Day Festival in May
- Manang Biring (Philippines) which was selected for Annecy International Film Festival and won both Best Film & Best Music in Philippines’ Cinema One Originals Film Festival
- Savva (Russian Federation) selected for Dubai International Film Festival
- Seoul Station (Seoul-yeok, Republic of Korea) which world premiered In Competition at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
- Sheep and Wolves (Volki i Ovtsy, Russian Federation) was screened In Competition at Annecy International Animation Festival this year
Films competing for APSA Best Documentary Feature film are:
- APSA’s first nomination for a film from Republic of the Union of Myanmar City of Jade (Fei Cui Zhi Cheng, Taiwan, Republic of the Union of Myanmar)
- Exile (Exil, Cambodia, France), presented as a Special Screening at Cannes Film Festival this year, nominated for the festival’s L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) documentary award
- Snow Monkey (Australia, Norway), the only Australian documentary In Competition at the prestigious International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in 2015
- Starless Dreams (Royahaye Dame Sobh, Islamic Republic of Iran), multi-award winner including Best Director at both Iran’s Cinema Verite and Eastern Pamorama Fajr Film Festival
- Under the Sun (V Luchakh Solnca, Russian Federation, Germany, Czech Republic, Latvia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) which picked up both the Jury Prize for Best Director and a Special Jury Prize at last year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
The APSA Youth, Animation & Documentary Jury is chaired by film critic, author and expert festival programmer Chris Fujiwara (USA) together with Mumbai Film Festival selection committee member and childrens’ arts and education advocate Nira Benegal (India) and former APSA International Jury member, writer, and feature and documentary filmmaker Christoph Schaub (Switzerland) whose appointment highlights the ten-year relationship between the European Film Academy (EFA) and APSA.
Chairman of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins said “it is an honour to have such an esteemed Jury taking on the formidable task of determining the winners from an elite field of award-winning films in these three important categories. I don’t envy their task.”
APSA Film Director Maxine Williamson said “2016 has been the strongest year to date we have had for these three categories, particularly films for Youth, made for audiences up to 18 years of age. It is refreshing to see so much cinema being made for the adolescent age bracket in this region. Across the three categories, a record 115 films were In Competition to determine these nominees.”
The nomination goes to the producers in Best Film categories, however, in honour of the creative role of the director, both the producers and directors are invited into the Asia Pacific Screen Academy making them eligible to apply for the 2016 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).
President of the APSA Academy is Australian screen legend Jack Thompson AM PhD. The Academy boasts over 870 of the region’s leading filmmakers and provides exclusive networking, development and funding opportunities available to Academy members through the APSA’s association with NETPAC, the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, and Academy mentoring opportunities for the next generation of Asia Pacific filmmakers through the Asia Pacific Screen Lab in collaboration with Griffith Film School. The APSA’s Academy partner, the European Film Academy shares the common interest of presenting pan-International Awards that promote and award excellence in cinema.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, based in Brisbane, are presented by Treasury Casino & Hotel, supported by Brisbane City Council and managed by 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.
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.