It’s time to put your star-spotting skills to the test as some of the world’s best filmmakers head to the Gold Coast for the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be presented on November 30.
Two films – All We Imagine as Light directed by Payal Kapadia; and April directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, will compete in five categories for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Performance.
Also competing for Best film are Desert of Namibia, Yoko Yamanaka’s story of a young woman’s mental illness; Happyend, Neo Sora’s future Tokyo tale of perilous social surveillance; and To Kill a Mongolian Horse, Xiaoxuan Jiang’s true story of a Mongolian horseman turned performer.
Four of the five films nominated for Best Film are by female directors; and in an APSA first, all five best film contenders are first or second features.
For the first time since the introduction of Best Performance, five women are being honoured for their roles.
APSA chair Tracey Vieira said the awards continued to grow and honour the incredible stories and storytellers of our culturally diverse region.
“In 2024, two-thirds of our nominated films are debut or second films, representing the cinematic excellence of the next generation of Asia Pacific voices, and the unique and compelling stories they are choosing to tell,” Ms Vieira said.
Three special awards were recently released ahead of the APSA ceremony next week. The Young Cinema Award went to Happyend director Neo Sora, who is also nominated for Best Screenplay. Georgia’s Data Chachua was named Best New Performer for Panopticon. And Min Bahadur Bham’s Shambhala won the Cultural Diversity Award.
The international film event honours the cinematic excellence of 78 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific for films that best reflect their cultural origins and the diversity of the region.
31 films from 23 Asia Pacific countries and areas are represented in the final APSA nominations.
The 2024 Forum will be held in the lead-up to the awards from Wednesday 27 to Saturday 30 November at The Langham, Gold Coast. It includes roundable events, a focus on cultural preservation, a youth pitching workshop, and networking events including APSA’s early career filmmakers event Reel Connections, all feature in the program at https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/asia-pacific-screen-forum
The awards will be presented on Saturday, November 30 at a ceremony on the Gold Coast, following the four-day Asia Pacific Screen Form on November 27-30. For tickets, go to https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/awards
APSA 2024 NOMINEES
Best Film
All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Directed by Payal Kapadia
Produced by Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff
April
Georgia, Italy, France
Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili
Produced by Ilan Amouyal, Archil Gelovani, Luca Guadagnino, Gabriele Moratti, Alexandra Rossi, David Zerat
Desert of Namibia
Japan
Directed by Yoko Yamanaka
Produced by Keisuke Konishi
Happyend
Japan, United States of America
Directed by Neo Sora
Produced by Albert Tholen, Aiko Masubuchi, Eric Nyari, Alex C Lo, Anthony Chen
To Kill a Mongolian Horse
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United States of America
Directed by Xiaoxuan Jiang
Produced by Zhulin Mo
Best Youth Film
Boong
India
Directed by Lakshmipriya Devi
Produced by Alan McAlex, Vikesh Bhutani, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Shujaat Saudagar
Magic Beach
Australia
Directed by Robert Connolly, Emma Kelly, Susan Danta, Lee Whitmore, Anthony Lucas, Kathy Sarpi, Eddie White, Simon Rippingale, Pierce Davison, Marieka Walsh, Susie Shapones, Jake Duczynski
Produced by Liz Kearney, Kate Laurie, Robert Connolly, Chloé Brugalé
She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones (Kai Shi De Qiang)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by Qu Youjia
Produced by Meng Xie, Xianjian Wu
Sunshine
Philippines
Directed by Antoinette Jadaone
Produced by Geo Lomuntad, Dan Villegas, Bianca Balbuena
The Mountain
New Zealand
Directed by Rachel House
Produced by Desray Armstrong, Morgan Waru
Best Animated Film
Ghost Cat Anzu
Japan, France
Directed by Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Produced by Keiichi Kondo, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Hiroyuki Negishi
Memoir of a Snail
Australia
Directed by Adam Elliot
Produced by Liz Kearney, Adam Elliot
Pig That Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Republic of Korea
Directed by Hur Bum-wook
Produced by Hur Bum-wook, Cho Heaseung
The Colors Within (Kimi no Iro)
Japan
Directed by Naoko Yamada
Produced by Eunyoung Choi, Yoshihiro Furusawa, Genki Kawamura, Wakana Okamura, Kohei Sakita
The Missing (Iti Mapukpukaw)
Philippines
Directed by Carl Joseph Papa
Produced by Geo Lomuntad, Dan Villegas
Best Documentary Film
Breaking the Cycle
Thailand
Directed by Aekaphong Saransate, Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn
Produced by Komtouch Napattaloong, Tanwarat Sombatwattana
Kamay
Afghanistan, Belgium, France, Germany
Directed by Ilyas Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran
Produced by Ilyas Yourish, Hanne Phlypo, Evelien De Graef
No Other Land
Palestine, Norway
Directed by Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham
Produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham
XiXi
Taiwan, Philippines, Republic of Korea
Directed by Fan Wu
Produced by Venice De Castro Atienza, Fan Wu, Sona Jo, Yoonsoo Her
Youth (Homecoming) (Qing Chun (Gui))
France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Directed by Wang Bing
Produced by Sonia Buchman, Mao Hui, Nicolas R De La Mothe, Vincent Wang
Best Director
Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Dea Kulumbegashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Tato Kotetishvili for Holy Electricity
Georgia, Netherlands
Rithy Panh for Meeting with Pol Pot (Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot)
France, Cambodia, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye
Xiaoxuan Jiang for To Kill a Mongolian Horse
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United States of America
Best Screenplay
Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Dea Kulumbegashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Neo Sora for Happyend
Japan, United States of America
Selman Nacar for Hesitation Wound (Tereddüt Çizgisi)
Türkiye, Spain, Romania, France
PS Vinothraj for The Adamant Girl (Kottukkaali)
India
Best Cinematography
Ranabir Das for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Arseni Khachaturan for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Michaël Capron for Mongrel
Taiwan, Singapore, France
Hideho Urata for Stranger Eyes
Singapore, Taiwan, France, United States of America
Son Doan for Viet and Nam
Philippines, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, United States of America
Best Performance
Kani Kusruti for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Ia Sukhitashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Yuumi Kawai for Desert of Namibia
Japan
Madina Akylbekova for Madina
Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan
Soheila Golestani for The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Germany, Islamic Republic of Iran, France
