Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua is the recipient of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asia Pacific Cinema, to be presented at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) ceremony on the Gold Coast next month.
Announced by FIAPF, in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, the prize is awarded to a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the Asia Pacific film industry.
Chua is known for founding the production company Potocol in 2014, focusing on the international co-production of Asian films telling Asian stories, and championing both established and new talent.
In the past 13 months alone, he has had four different films from four different countries have their world premieres at the Venice, Berlin, Cannes, and San Sebastian Film Festivals, and is involved in Indonesia’s official submission for the Best International Feature category, Makbul Mubarak’s 2022 film Autobiography, as a co-producer.
Chua’s 2023 co-production between Vietnam, Singapore, France, and Spain, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Bên Trong Vỏ Kén Vàng), has already won the Cannes Film Festival’s Caméra d’Or award and the APSA Young Cinema Award for director Phạm Thiên Ân.
He is also represented in this year’s APSA nominations through Last Shadow at First Light, a five-country co-production between Singapore, Japan, Slovenia, Philippines, and Indonesia that is Best Screenplay for writer/director Nicole Midori Woodford and APSA Best Performance for Mihaya Shirata.
Chua will act as a mentor in the 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Lab and share his experience at the Asia Pacific Screen Forum as part of the First Time Producers Roundtable event.
He said it was an honour to join a list of past recipients whom he admired and drew inspiration from.
“Independent cinema in today’s world is becoming more relevant as a medium to address the urgent issues that affect our future humanity, yet increasingly difficult to make and reach an audience,” he said.
“I aim to continue collaborating with my directors to keep their precious voices alive in the public consciousness. I wish to thank FIAPF, my mentors, and fellow producers for their unyielding support and friendship.”
FIAPF president Luis Alberto Scalella was pleased to recognise Chua while celebrating the 90th year of the federation.
“FIAPF acknowledges Jeremy Chua’s bold decisions as a producer, backing a new generation of filmmakers, while collaborating with financial partners and talents from the region to bring audacious stories to the screens as international co-productions thriving on the international circuit,” he said.
In congratulating Chua, Asia Pacific Screen Academy chair Tracey Vieira commended the producer for ” working with talented filmmakers across many countries of the region to bring more Asia Pacific stories to the screen and the world stage”.
The 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Awards will be held Friday, November 3 at Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast.