Incoming APSA chair Tracey Vieira.
While the major ceremony will not go ahead given COVID-19 restrictions, the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA) will still present a smaller number of awards in a live presentation in late November, while also running the concurrent industry event, the Asia Pacific Screen Forum, online.
The awards, to be broadcast from HOTA on the Gold Coast, will consist of two major prizes, the FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film, and the APSA Young Cinema Award acknowledging the cinematic excellence of an emerging filmmaker.
The four recipients of the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, a US $25,000 script development grant, will also be unveiled during the presentation.
The news coincides with appointment of Tracey Vieira as APSA chair. Vieira is the chief content officer at Hoodlum Entertainment and former CEO of Screen Queensland, and succeeds Michael Hawkins, who remains on the board together with founding chair Des Power.
“As the unprecedented events of 2020 continue to unfold, APSA is committed to igniting, honouring and showcasing our region’s screen creatives,” said Vieira.
“APSA and its initiatives have long demonstrated great leadership uniting and connecting the filmmaking communities of Asia Pacific and beyond, creating opportunities, providing vital funds at script development stage in partnership with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and celebrating cultural diversity and cinematic excellence through the Awards and Forum.”
“These are all critical to the industry and at the heart of APSA’s DNA.”
“The energy in the room as Parasite won the Best Film APSA in 2019 and producer Jang Young-hwan took the stage was extraordinary, and while we can’t re-create that gala event in 2020, we have risen to the challenge of what we CAN do!”
The FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film will be presented to a personality whose achievements across borders and boundaries have helped guide the industry into the future, in a year requiring extreme innovation and creativity.
The APSA Young Cinema Award, in partnership with The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and Griffith Film School (GFS) will be determined by a jury comprised by head of the Generation section at the Berlinale, Maryanne Redpath; vice-president of The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and academic Anne Démy-Geroe with the Jury headed by Hong-Joon Kim, who has chaired the APSA International Nominations Council since APSA’s inception.
The Asia Pacific Screen Forum, to run November 20-26, will present a program of signature events, screenings and industry round-table discussions with creatives from the APSA Academy.
The first event to be announced is Women in Film – Leadership, a discussion featuring vice president of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network, Palme d’Or winner Zeynep Atakan (Turkey); WIFT International Board member and feminist filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh), and the Australian creative team behind 2020 APSA Competition documentary The Leadership, director/writer Ili Baré and producer Greer Simpkin.
The full program for forum will be announced in early October, while the awards presentation will be broadcast November 26.