Nominees in the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the region’s highest accolade in film in 2007, were announced last night at a gala event in Singapore.
Feature films in contention for Best Feature Film are Caramel (Lebanon), Night Bus (Autobus-E Shab – Iran), Opera Jawa (Indonesia), Secret Sunshine (Miryang – Republic of Korea) and Takva: A Man’s Fear of God (Turkey).
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is a collaboration between CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF- the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. The Awards honour the works of filmmakers across a region covering more than 70 countries, one third of the earth and half the world’s film output.
The finalists are drawn from all over the Asia-Pacific region with 34 films nominated from 19 countries: Armenia, Australia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
Asia Pacific Screen Awards Chairman, Des Power, said: ‘It is remarkable that the Awards in their first year have drawn entries from so many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Clearly filmmakers and the industry value the purpose and benefit of these Awards and the global broadcast platform of CNN International.
‘I congratulate the nominees in the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards. They represent the extraordinary creativity and energy of filmmakers across the Asia-Pacific region and the range and quality of their films undoubtedly reflects the aims of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to celebrate both cinematic excellence and cultural diversity.’
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards will be presented at an Awards ceremony on the Gold Coast,Australia, on November 13, 2007, following deliberation by a distinguished International Jury headed by Indian actress and humanitarian, Shabana Azmi.
The full list of nominees follows.
The nominees in the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards are:
* Best Feature Film
Produced by Anne Dominique Toussaint
Produced by Mehdi Homayounfar
Produced by Garin Nugroho and Simon Field
Produced by In-Soo Kim, Chang-Dong Lee and Hanna Lee
Produced by Sevil Demirci Cakar
* Best Animated Feature Film
Produced by Hansen Liang and Meiling Zhou
Produced by Horitaka Kawaguchi
Produced by Yutaka Sugiyama
* Best Documentary Feature Film
Produced by Mai Masri and Jean Chamoun
Produced by Feng Gao
Produced by Documentary and Experimental Film Centre and TOUBA Film
Produced by Vardan Hovhannisyan
Produced by Tan Chui Mui
* Best Children’s Feature Film
Produced by Menardo Jimenez and Socorro Fernandez
Produced by Ari Sihasale
Produced by Hassan Agha-Karimi
Produced by Antonio Gloria
Produced by Puad Onah
* Achievement in Directing
* Best Screenplay
* Achievement in Cinematography
* Best Performance by an Actress
* Best Performance by an Actor
Two additional major Awards will be presented for outstanding achievement:
The FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is producing television programs attached to the inaugural 2007 Awards for global broadcast on CNN International.
The programs, titled Scene By Scene, will carry stories and interviews about the region’s film industry. Scene By Scene – Films of Asia Pacific will screen on CNN International on November 10 prior to the Awards ceremony on November 13. The second program, Scene By Scene – Best Films of Asia Pacific, will include the Awards ceremony and will air on November 17.
For more information visit http://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/
[release of TM Publicity]