HOU Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin (pictured) has three nominations, for Best Feature, Directing and Cinematography (Mark Lee Ping-Bing) and leads the list. Several titles have two nominations.
All up, 39 films are nominated, from 22 countries Asia Pacific countries and areas. Over a dozen non-APAC countries, mostly European, are also represented on the nominations list.
Very few of the titles nominated at APSA are their home countries’ foreign language Oscar submissions, although The Assassin (Taiwan) and Yermek Tursunov’s Stranger (Kazakhstan) fly their respective flags at both events. France’s Oscar submission, Mustang, is nominated at APSA with four participating countries: France, Germany, Turkey and Qatar.
A year on from Cliff Curtis’ Best Actor win at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for The Dark Horse, there are no NZ nominees. Host Australia takes four nominations, all for different titles.
None of the 24 applications from 11 countries for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards’ year-long Asia Pacific Screen Lab mentoring programme, run with Australia’s Griffith Film School and NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema), were from NZ. One of the NETPAC team behind the lab is Korean director Park Ki-yong, who was resident here for a while and whose Christchurch-set doco Moving screened in 2011’s NZIFF.
The two filmmakers selected this year were Iraqi filmmaker Mohanad Hayal with feature Haifi Street and Australian/Vietnamese filmmaker Jakeb Anhvu’s with A Hundred Years of Happiness.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony runs 26 November in Brisbane. The 2015 APSA nominees are:
Best Feature Film
Alive, Republic of Korea
The Assassin, Taiwan
Cemetery of Splendour, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom
End of Winter, Republic of Korea
Journey to the Shore, Japan, France
Best Youth Feature Film
A Corner of Heaven, People’s Republic of China, France
Mina Walking, Afghanistan, Canada
Mustang, Turkey, Qatar, France, Germany
River, People’s Republic of China
Set Me Free, Republic of Korea
Best Animated Feature Film
Blinky Bill The Movie, Australia, India, Ireland
Miss Hokusai, Japan
The Road Called Life, Republic of Korea
The Snow Queen 2: The Snow King, Russian Federation
When Marnie Was There, Japan
Best Documentary Feature Film
Among the Believers, Pakistan, United States of America
Another Country, Australia
The Chinese Mayor, People’s Republic of China
The Look of Silence, Indonesia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom
A Flag Without a Country, Iraq
Achievement In Directing
Park Jungbum, Alive, Republic of Korea
Hou Hsiao-hsien, The Assassin, Taiwan
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Cemetery of Splendour, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom
Yermek Tursunov, Stranger, Kazakhstan
Alexey German Jr, Under Electric Clouds, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland
Best Screenplay
Senem Tüzen, Motherland, Turkey, Greece
Emin Alper, Frenzy, Turkey, Qatar, France
Xin Yukun, Feng Yuanliang, The Coffin in the Mountain, People’s Republic of China
Kenzhebek Shaikakov, Tent, Kazakhstan
Vimukthi Jayasundara, Dark in the White Light, Sri Lanka, France
Achievement In Cinematography
Jean-Marc Ferrière, Sunrise, India
Murat Aliyev, Stranger, Kazakhstan
Mark Lee Ping-Bing, The Assassin, Taiwan
Lu Songye, Tharlo, People’s Republic of China
Miaoyan Zhang, A Corner of Heaven, People’s Republic of China, France
Best Performance By An Actress
Kirin Kiki, An, Japan, France, Germany
Lee Yeong-lan, End of Winter, Republic of Korea
Shamaine Buencamino, Lorna, Philippines
Fatemeh Motamed Arya, Avalanche, Islamic Republic of Iran
Evgeniya Mandzhieva,The Gulls, Russian Federation
Best Performance By An Actor
Alexey Gusykov, The Find, Russian Federation, Finland
Jung Jaeyoung, Right Now, Wrong Then, Republic of Korea
Reef Ireland, Downriver, Australia
Misha Gomiashvili,The President, Georgia, United Kingdom, France, Germany
Shide Nyima, Tharlo, People’s Republic of China
APSA UNESCO Award
Miaoyan Zhang, A Corner of Heaven, People’s Republic of China, France
Ella Manzheeva, The Gulls, Russian Federation
Senem Tüzen, Motherland, Turkey, Greece
Hany Abu-Assad, The Idol, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Netherlands
Stephen Page, Spear, Australia
