10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Winners

Winners in the current edition of the APSA's were announced today in a live to the world streamed ceremony and top winner is none other than Turkey's submission to #Oscars2017 Cold of Kalandar by Mustafa Kara.

The Jury awarded two Jury Grand Prizes and one Special Menion.

Jury Grand Prize for her performance to Youn Yuh-jung in 죽여주는 여자 Jookyeojooneun Yeoja (The Bacchus Lady), E J-Yong, South Korea
Jury Grand Prize to cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing for Chang jiang tu (Crosscurrent), Yang Chao, China
Jury Grand Prize Special Mention for his performance to Sunny Pawar in Lion, Garth Davis, Australia
APSA Young Cinema Award: Mustafa Kara for Kalandar Soğuğu (Cold of Kalandar), Mustafa Kara, Turkey and Hungary
Special Mention: Bin Gan for Lu Bian Ye Can (Kaili Blues), China

Winners are in (*)BLUE. To check winners at official site go here.
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10/26/16
For the last few weeks APSA has been announcing nominees in several categories but was not until recently that announced the nominees for narrative feature films and by now, the full list of nominees have been announced so here is the post.

Let's recall that these awards are the region's newest and by now, the highest accolade in film which recognizes and promotes cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, one third of the earth and responsible for half of the world’s film output today. From a production pool that stretches from Egypt in the West to the Cook Islands in the East, and from Russia in the North to New Zealand in the South, in 2016, 39 films from 19 Asia Pacific countries and areas are nominated.

Most remarkable is to realize that 2016 saw a record number of films to be considered: 303 films from 43 countries an areas of Asia Pacific. Chair of the APSA International Nominations Council, Professor Hong-Joon Kim said “The 10th APSA Competition has been a unique year in terms of the level of diversity among the films. In watching the 135 films in the feature narrative competition we saw diversity of everything – commercial vs arthouse films, big industry vs small independent films, different nations and countries representing the major film producing nations, and the developing screen culture from countries with young film industries. The achievement honoring directors was a particularly difficult decision this year due to the number of films by first or second filmmakers who have remarkable cinematic voices. I am already really excited for future editions of APSA as we see the work of these first time directors reach full maturity as we saw many major auteurs in the making.”

Four films lead the pack with three nominations each, Cold of Kalandar, Ember, Daughter and Psycho Raman. But what really blows my mind is the absence of films by outstanding directors with great films this year, The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi, Ma' Rosa by Brillante Mendoza, The Woman Who Left by Lav Diaz, and The Handmaiden by Chan-wook Park.  Perhaps Diaz film will appear next year but the other three have been already released and as a matter of fact represent their production country at 2017 Oscar foreign-language category.

Among the nominees there are great films from the three major film festivals or films that represent their countries at 2017 Oscar foreign-language category but from those I was not aware of, not many called my attention. Sigh.  Still nominations made me recall how much I want to see City of Jade by Midi Z and Exile by Rithy Panh.   My general impression is while 2016 edition is honoring a few great movies from Iran, Turkey and Russia, it left out some important films from the region and was appalled by the lack of films from China and Japan. Sigh.

Best Feature Film
دختر‎‎ Dokhtar (Daughter), Reza Mirkarimi, Iran
(*) Kalandar Soğuğu (Cold of Kalandar), Mustafa Kara, Turkey and Hungary
Kor (Ember), Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey and Germany
محمد رسول‌الله Muhammad Rasoulallah (Muhammad the Messenger of God), Majid Majidi, Iran
Ученик Uchenik (The Student), Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia

Best Youth Feature
Nafas (Breath), Narges Abyar, Iran
Ottaal (The Trap), Jayaraj Rajasekharan Nair, India
Ringan (The Quest), Makarand Mane, India
Wolf and Sheep, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Afghanistan, Denmark, France and Sweden
(*) 우리들 Woo-ri-deul (The World of Us), Yoon Ga-eun

Best Animated Feature Film
Bilal, Ayman Jamal, UAE
Manang Biring, Carl Joseph Papa, Philippines
Savva (A Warrior's Tail), Maksim Fadeev, Russia
(*) Seoul-yeok (Seoul Station), Yeon Sang-ho, South Korea
Volki I Ovtsy (Sheep and Wolves), Max Volkov, Russia

Best Documentary
Exil (Exile), Rithy Panh, Cambodia and France
Fei Cui Zhi Cheng (City of Jade), Midi Z, Myanmar and Taiwan
(*) Royahaye Dame Sobh (Starless Dreams), Mehrdad Oskouei, Iran
Snow Monkey, George Gittoes, Australia and Norway
V Luchakh Solnca (Under The Sun), Vitaly Mansky, Russia, South Korea, Czech Republic, Germany and Latvia

Achievement in Directing
Anurag Kashyap for Raman Raghav 2.0 (Psycho Raman), India
Bi Gan for Lu Bian Ye Can (Kaili Blues), China
(*) Feng Xiaogang for Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian (I Am Not Madame Bovary), China
Lee Joon-ik for 사도 Sado (The Throne), South Korea
Zeki Demirkubuz for Kor (Ember), Turkey and Germany

Achievement in Cinematography
(*) Cevahir Şahin and Kürşat Üresin for Kalandar Soğuğu (Cold of Kalandar), Mustafa Kara, Turkey and Hungary
Wang Tianxing for Lu Bian Ye Can (Kaili Blues), Feng Xiaogang, China
Vittorio Storaro for محمد رسول‌الله Muhammad Rasoulallah (Muhammad the Messenger of God), Majid Majidi, Iran
Jay Oza for Raman Raghav 2.0 (Psycho Raman), Anurag Kashyap, India
Gorka Gómez Andreu for Skhvisi Sakhli (House of Others), Rusudan Glurjidze, Georgia, Russia, Spain and Croatia

Best Screenplay
Yang Chao for Chang Jiang Tu (Crosscurrent), Yang Chao, China
Gurvinder Singh and Waryam Singh Sandhu for Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction), Gurvinder Sing, India and France
(*) Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tadashi Nohara and Tomoyuki Takahashi for 映画『ハッピーアワー Happî awâ (Happy Hour), Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan
Mehran Kashani for دختر‎‎ Dokhtar (Daughter), Reza Mirkarimi, Iran
Leena Yadav, Supratik Sen for Parched, Leena Yadav India, USA and UK

Best Performance by an Actress
Aslihan Gürbüz in Kor (Ember), Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey and Germany
(*) Hasmine Killip in Pamilya Ordinaryo (Ordinary People, Eduardo W. Roy Jr., Philippines
Natalia Pavlenkova in Зооло́гия Zoologiya (Zoology), Ivan I. Tverdovsky, Russia, France and Germany
Agrippina Steklova in Инсайт Insayt (Insight), Aleksandr Kott, Russia
Youn Yuh-jung in 죽여주는 여자 Jookyeojooneun Yeoja (The Bacchus Lady), E J-Yong, South Korea

Best Performance by an Actor
Farhad Aslani in دختر‎‎ Dokhtar (Daughter), Reza Mirkarimi, Iran
(*) Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh, Hansal Mehta, India
Song Kang-ho in 사도 Sado (The Throne), Lee Joon-ik, South Korea
Dev Patel in Lion, Garth Davis, Australia
(*) Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Raman Raghav 2.0 (Psycho Raman), Anurag Kashyap, India Special Mention

UNESCO Cultural Diversity Award
Akher Ayam el Madina (In The Last Days of the City), Tamer el Said, Egypt, Germany, UAE and UK
Kalandar Soğuğu (Cold of Kalandar), Mustafa Kara, Turkey and Hungary
Трейлер Костер на ветру Kostior na vetru (The Bonfire), Dmitrii Davydov, Russia
Qingshui li de daozi (Knife in the Clear Water), Wang Xuebo, China
(*) Reşeba (The Dark Wind), Hussein Hassan, Iraq, Germany and Qatar

If you wish to read about each nominated film, watch trailer and learn basic info go to official site here.

The 2016 APSA International Jury President is acclaimed Academy-Award® winner Lord David Puttnam (United Kingdom, APSA 2010 Jury President). Puttnam will be joined by APSA Patron and co-founder and current Chairman of the Busan International Film Festival Kim Dong-Ho, prolific and multi-award winning producer from Hong Kong (PRC) Nansun Shi (APSA 2011), Palme d’Or and Academy Award®-winning Australian producer Jan Chapman (APSA 2012), and celebrated Indian master filmmaker Shyam Benegal (APSA 2013).



In celebration of the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards milestone, a new, important and relevant award achievement has been introduced – the APSA Young Cinema Award presented by NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) and Griffith Film School (GFS). This important Award addition recognizes 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.

Nominees are inducted 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).

The winner of the 10th APSA FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film in the Asia Pacific region, esteemed Iranian producer Manoochehr Mohammadi, was announced from Cannes earlier this year by APSA and the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).

Winners in the 10th anniversary edition of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards will be announced on Thursday 24 November from the 10th APSA Ceremony in Brisbane, Australia, and via a live webcast to the globe.