Essie Davis and Leah Purcell will battle it out in the best performance by an actress category at next month’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards, while Nitram lead Caleb Landry Jones and Australian/Afghan film When Pomegranates Howl are also among the nominees.
Films from Japan and the Islamic Republic of Iran lead the field for this year’s awards with six nominations each. Two films, both winners at Cannes this year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero (Ghahreman), have garnered the most nominations, with both films up for the same four categories – Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Performance by an Actor.
Purcell gets the nod for The Drovers Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, for which she was also director and writer, with Davis recognised for her role in Gaysorn Thavat’s debut feature The Justice of Bunny King.
Jones, with whom Davis appears opposite in Nitram, will be hoping he can add to his best performance by an actor award at July’s Cannes Film Festival for his work in Justin Kurzel’s chilling portrait of the gunman who committed the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania.
Rounding out the Australian contingent is Granaz Moussavi’s When Pomegranates Howl, which is up for Best Youth Feature Film. Shot on the streets of Kabul in Afghanistan, the film follows a nine-year-old boy who dreams of stardom, with the significance of this work is brought into sharp focus following the recent events in that country.
Moussavi, who lives in Melbourne, will also appear on a panel at the accompanying Asia Pacific Screen Forum. She will be joined by Iraqi Kurdistan filmmaker Shawkat Amin Korki, US director Rachel Leah Jones and researcher and critic Sam Ho for Filmmaking in Hostile Environments, which Professor Peter Greste will moderate.
Other Australian speakers at the forum include Purcell, who is set to appear alongside Indonesian screenwriter Eka Kurniawan and New Zealand writer Briar Grace-Smith in a session entitled From Page To Screen: Adaptations for Film, which will explore the process of development for writing, direction and producing.
Elsewhere, Sydney-based indiVisual films director/producer Ana Tiwary will be joined by Fijian writer/director Vilsoni Hereniko and Vietnamese-French film director Tran Anh Hung in examining how to navigate the demands of production to deliver authentic stories in cultural and diaspora film as part of the Maintaining Authenticity In Production panel.
Nitram producer and GoodThings Productions founder Nick Batzias is set to discuss informal and formal co-production strategies at the Creativity and Financing panel, which also includes Indonesian producer Meiske Taurisia, while Madman Entertainment managing director Paul Wiegard will speak at the Meet the Sales Agents component.
Overall, the six-day forum will include more than 30 expert industry speakers from 17 countries.
Asia Pacific Screen Academy chair Tracey Vieira said the event was rich in talent and diversity.
“The opportunity for screenmakers to hear from some of the world’s top decision-makers for festivals, sales agents, broadcasters, and distributors provides unprecedented access to these gate-keepers to reach an audience, and provides an insight into how these decisions are made,” she said.
“APSA continues to identify, support and amplify the careers of emerging storytellers throughout the Asia Pacific, with 18 of the 38 nominated films by first or second feature directors, and the annual presentation of the Young Cinema Award in partnership with NETPAC and GFS. The Forum presents specially crafted events to speak directly to these emerging voices.”
The 3rd Asia Pacific Screen Forum will be held from November 11-16 on the Gold Coast, with the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be held on November 11.
Find out more information here.
Full list of nominees:
BEST FEATURE FILM
A Hero (Ghahreman)
Islamic Republic of Iran, Francewri
Directed by Asghar FARHADI
Produced by Asghar FARHADI, Alexandre MALLET-GUY
A Night of Knowing Nothing
India, France
Directed by Payal KAPADIA
Produced by Thomas HAKIM, Julien GRAFF, Ranabir DAS
Drive My Car
Japan
Directed by Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI
Produced by Teruhisa YAMAMOTO
The Pencil (Prostoy karandash)
Russian Federation
Directed by Natalya NAZAROVA
Produced by Maxim DASHKIN, Anna VON DZIEMBOWSKA, Boris FRUMIN, Danil FERBIKOV, Denis KOVALEVSKIY
There is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)
Islamic Republic of Iran, Czech Republic, Germany
Directed by Mohammad RASOULOF
Produced by Mohammad RASOULOF, Kaveh FARNAM, Farzad PAK
BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM
Brother’s Keeper (Okul Tıraşı)
Turkey, Romania
Directed by Ferit KARAHAN
Produced by Kanat DOĞRAMACI
Moving On (Nam-mae-wui Yeo-reum-bam)
Republic of Korea
Directed by YOON Dan-bi
Produced by YOON Dan-bi, KIM Gi-hyeon
Scales (Sayidat Al Bahr)
Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia
Directed by Shahad AMEEN
Produced by R Paul MILLER, Stephen STRACHAN, Rula NASSER
Voices in the Wind (Kaze no Denwa)
Japan
Directed by Nobuhiro SUWA
Produced by Eiji IZUMI
When Pomegranates Howl
Afghanistan, Australia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Netherlands
Directed by Granaz MOUSSAVI
Produced by Granaz MOUSSAVI, Baheer WARDAK, Marzieh VAFAMEHR, Christine WILLIAMS
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Beauty Water (Gigigoegoe Seonghyeongsu)
Republic of Korea
Directed by CHO Kyung-hun
Produced by JEON Byung-jin
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Gyoko no Nikuko-chan)
Japan
Directed by Ayumu WATANABE
Produced by Sanma AKASHIYA, Eiko TANAKA, Shu KAMIGASO, Mitsugu YAMADA
The Knight and The Princess
Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Directed by Bashir EL DEEK, Ibrahim MOUSA
Produced by Alabbas BIN ALABBAS
The Nose or The Conspiracy of Mavericks (Nos ili zagovor netakikh)
Russian Federation
Directed by Andrey KHRZHANOVSKY
Produced by Andrey KHRZHANOVSKY
Where is Anne Frank
Belgium
Directed by Ari FOLMAN
Produced by Jani THILTGES, Yves KUGELMANN, Ari FOLMAN, Alexander RODNYANSKY
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Gorbachev. Heaven
Latvia, Czech Republic
Directed by Vitaly MANSKY
Produced by Natalia MANSKAIA, Filip REMUNDA, Vít KLUSÁK
Miguel’s War (Aanaf Hob)
Lebanon, Spain, Germany
Directed by Eliane RAHEB
Produced by Eliane RAHEB
Sabaya
Sweden
Directed by Hogir HIRORI
Produced by Antonio RUSSO MERENDA, Hogir HIRORI
The Devil’s Drivers
Lebanon, Qatar, France, Germany
Directed by Mohammed ABUGETH, Daniel CARSENTY
Produced by Daniel CARSENTY, Felix BLUM
Writing With Fire
India
Directed by Rintu THOMAS, Sushmit GHOSH
Produced by Sushmit GHOSH, Rintu THOMAS
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Asghar FARHADI for A Hero (Ghahreman)
Islamic Republic of Iran, France
Dea KULUMBEGASHVILI for Beginning (Dasatskisi)
Georgia, France
Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI for Drive My Car
Japan
P S VINOTHRAJ for Pebbles (Koozhangal)
India
Kamila ANDINI for Yuni
Indonesia, Singapore, France
BEST SCREENPLAY
Asghar FARHADI for A Hero (Ghahreman)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Nasim AHMADPOUR, Shahram MOKRI for Careless Crime (Jenayat-e bi deghat)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI, OE Takamasa for Drive My Car
Japan
Dana IDISIS for Here We Are (Hine Anachnu)
Israel, Italy
Asif RUSTAMOV, Roelof Jan MINNEBOO, Ilgar NAJAF for Sughra’s Sons
Azerbaijan, France, Germany
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
FENG Yuchao Robbin for A New Old Play (Jiao ma tang hui)
Hong Kong, France
Phuttiphong AROONPHENG for Anatomy of Time (Wela)
Thailand, Singapore, France, Netherlands
Vignesh KUMULAI, Che PARTHIBAN for Pebbles (Koozhangal)
India
NGUYỄN Vinh Phúc for Taste (Vị)
Vietnam, Singapore, France, Thailand, Germany
Akiko ASHIZAWA for Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas)
Indonesia, Singapore, Germany
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Alena YIV for Asia
Israel
Azmeri HAQUE BADHON for Rehana (Rehana Maryam Noor)
Bangladesh, Qatar, Singapore
Valentina ROMANOVA-CHYSKYYRAY for Scarecrow (Pugalo)
Russian Federation
Leah PURCELL for The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson
Australia
Essie DAVIS for The Justice of Bunny King
New Zealand
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Amir JADIDI for A Hero (Ghahreman)
Islamic Republic of Iran, France
Levan TEDIASHVILI for Brighton 4th
Georgia, Russian Federation, Bulgaria, Monaco, United States of America
Hidetoshi NISHIJIMA for Drive My Car
Japan
Merab NINIDZE for House Arrest (Delo)
Russian Federation
Caleb LANDRY JONES for Nitram
Australia