9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations

APSA Chairman Michael Hawkins today announced the nominations for the 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the region’s highest accolade in film, in the Best Feature Film category and five craft award achievements.

Leading the nominations is Taiwan's The Assassin nominated for Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing for Hou Hsiao-hsien and Achievement in Cinematography for APSA Academy member Mark Lee Ping-Bing. Competing alongside The Assassin for Best Feature Film are Thailand’s Cemetery of Splendour, Japanese drama Journey to the Shore and the Korean features End of Winter and Alive.

Most interesting is to notice that nominations this year are spread among many movies from several countries, which undoubtedly makes competition a bit more worth-following.  With the nominations announced today the post has become final and now we will learn winners on Thursday, November 26.

Best Feature Film
철원기행 Cheol-won-gi-haeng (End of Winter), Dae-hwan Kim, South Korea
岸辺の旅 Kishibe no Tabi (Journey to the Shore), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan and France
刺客聂隐娘 Nie Yin niang (The Assassin), Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan
รักที่ขอนแก่น Rak ti Khon Kaen (Cementery of Splendour), Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany and UK
산다 Sanda (Alive), Jung-bum Park, South Korea

Best Youth Feature Film
거인 Geoin (Set Me Free), Tae-yong Kim, South Korea
ང་པོ། Gtsngbo (River), Sonthar Gyal, China
Mina Walking, Yosef Baraki, Afghanistan and Canada
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey, Qatar, France and Germany
通往天國的路 Tiantang jiaoluo (A Corner of Heaven), Miaoyan Zhang, China and France

Best Animated Feature Film
Blinky Bill, Deane Taylor, Noel Cleary, Alexs Stadermann, Alex Weight, Australia and USA
메밀꽃, 운수 좋은 날, 그리고 봄봄 Memilggot, Woonsoo Joheunnal, Geurigo Bombom (The Road Called Life),Ahn Jae-Hoon and Han Hye-Jin, South Korea
思い出のマーニー Omoide no Mānī (When Marmie Was There), Japan
百日紅 Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai (Miss Hokusai), Keiichi Hara, Japan
Snezhnaya koroleva 2. Snezhnyy korol (Snow Queen 2: The Snow King), Aleksey Tsitslin, Russia

Best Documentary film
A Flag Without a Country, Bahman Ghobadi, Iraq
Among the Believers, Mohammed Naqvi and Hemal Trivedi, Pakistan and USA
Another Country, Molly Reynolds, Australia
Datong (The Chinese Mayor), Hao Zhou, China
The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer, Indonesia, UK, Denmark, Finland, and Norway

Achievement in Directing
Alexey German Jr. for Под электрическими облаками Pod elektricheskimi oblakami (Under Electric Clouds), Russia, Ukraine and Poland
Apichatpong Weerasethakul for รักที่ขอนแก่น Rak ti Khon Kaen (Cementery of Splendour), Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany and UK
Hou Hsiao-hsien for 刺客聂隐娘 Nie Yin niang (The Assassin), Taiwan
Park Jung-bum for 산다 Sanda (Alive), South Korea
Yermek Tursunov for Жат Zhat (Stranger), Kazakhstan

Achievement in Cinematography
Jean-Marc Ferrière for Arunoday (Sunrise), Partho Sen-Gupta, India
Lu Songye for Tharlo, Pema Tseden, China
Mark Lee Ping-Bing for 刺客聂隐娘 Nie Yin niang (The Assassin), Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan
Miaoyan Zhang for 通往天國的路 Tiantang jiaoluo (A Corner in Heaven), China and France
Murat Aliyev for Жат Zhat (Stranger), Yermek Turnsunov, Kazakhstan

Best Screenplay
Emin Alper for Abluka (Frenzy), Emin Alper, Turkey, Qatar and France
Kenzhebek Shaikakov for Kurko (Tent), Kenzhebek Shaikakov, Kazakhstan
Senem Tüzen for Ana Yurdu (Motherland), Turkey and Greece
Vimukthi Jayasundara for Sulanga Gini Aran (Dark in the White Light), Sri Lanka and France
Xin Yukun and Feng Yanliang for 殡棺 Xin Migong (The Coffin in the Mountain), Xin Yukun, China

Best Performance by an Actress
Evgeniya Mandshieva in Chaiky (The Gulls), Ella Manzheeva, Russia
Fatemeh Motamed Arya in Bahman (Avalanche), Morteza Farshbaf, Iran
Kirin Kiki in An, Naomi Kawase, Japan, France and Germany
Lee Yeong-Ian in 철원기행 Cheol-won-gi-haeng (End of Winter), Dae-hwan Kim, South Korea
Shamaine Buencamino in Lorna, Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, Philippines

Best Performance by an Actor
Alexey Gusykov in Nakhodka (The Find), Viktor Dement, Russia and Finland
Jung Jaeyoung in Jigeumeun Matgo Geuttaeneun Teullida (Right Now, Wrong Then), Sang-soo Hong, South Korea
Misha Gomiashvili in The President, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Georgia, UK, France and Germany
Reef Ireland in Downriver, Australia
Shide Nyima in Tharlo, Pema Tseden, China

APSA UNESCO Award
Director Ella Manzheeva for Chaiky (The Gulls), Russia
Director Hany Abu-Assad for Ya Tayr El Tayer (The Idol), Palestine, Qatar, UAE, UK and Netherlands
Director Miaoyan Zhang for 通往天國的路 Tiantang jiaoluo (A Corner of Heaven), China and France
Director Senem Tüzen for Ana Yurdu (Motherland), Turkey and Greece
Director Stephen Page for Spear, Australia

International Jury
President: Kim Dong-Ho, Busan IFF founder and Honorary director, South Korea
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, writer and director, Bangladesh
Zhang Xianmin, director, writer and curator, China
U-Wei Bin Hajisaari, writer and director, Malaysia
Alexei Popogrebsky, writer and director, Russia
Negar Javaherian, actress, Iran

Youth, Animation and Documentary International Jury
President: Shawkat Amin Korki, writer, director and producer, Iraqi Kurdistan
Yuka Sakano, Japan
Sam Ho, Hong Kong

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10/7/15

A record number of films are in contention for the 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the region’s highest accolade in film, with over 290 films from 41 Asia Pacific countries and areas In Competition. APSA was created to recognize, promote and award films that demonstrate cinematic excellence and films that best reflect their cultural origins of the vast Asia Pacific, a region that boasts dynamic and world-class talent.

For the first time in 2015, the APSA International Nominations Council will determine nominees in the prestigious APSA UNESCO Award achievement. The UNESCO Award is presented to a film practitioner and film from the region for the outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of the cultural diversity through the medium of film

The nominations in the categories of Best Feature Film and five achievements will be announced on October 21 from the Museum of Brisbane but organizers have already announced nominees in some categories.

This post will be in progress until October 21 when all nominees will be completed and post will become final.

Know that most important categories will be unveiled next October 21 but from the above the best discovery is a Tibetian film that skipped my radar in 2015 Berlinale but today definitively caught my total attention: River by Sonthar Gyal has become must be seen for me. Great.

To read about the up-to-date nominees, jury members and more go to the award official site here.