Radio 4EB is excited to announce that we will be attending the 14th iteration of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards & Forum to highlight the fantastic film works of the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy proudly presents the region’s highest accolade in film, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Established in 2007, APSA ignites and honours the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world’s film output.
A whopping 25 Asia Pacific countries and areas are represented in the nominees. Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, Vietnam.
In addition to the Awards taking place on the 11th of November in the Gold Coast, the Asia Pacific Screen Forum will take place both in person and online over six days; from 11 November through until 16 November.
For more information regarding the awards, forum, film screenings and to book your attendance; you can follow the links below.
Launched in 2019, the Asia Pacific Screen Forum presents an action-packed program of industry-led networking opportunities, designed to facilitate relationships and collaborations between filmmakers across Asia Pacific. Providing fertile creative ground for APSA nominees and guests to strengthen their connections, the program is open to all industry professionals, providing an unprecedented opportunity to meet and learn from filmmakers from right across the region.
In 2021 the Forum will inspire new connections and models of filmmaking under the theme The Influence of Production on Story. This topic will be explored through a series panel discussion and interactive case studies. The forum will also feature in-conversations, screenings, roundtable discussions and one-on-one meetings and mentorships across Asia Pacific.
The Films!
Films from Japan and Islamic Republic of Iran lead the field with seven nominations each. Two films, both winners at Cannes this year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero (Ghahreman), achieved 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.
Best Youth Feature Film award features three emerging women directors with their debut or second feature nominated. They are Yoon Dan-bi for Moving On (Nam-mae-wui Yeo-reum-bam, Republic of Korea),Granaz Moussavi’s When Pomegranates Howl (Afghanistan, Australia) and Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s Scales (Sayidat Al Bahr, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia) who follows in the footsteps of Haifaa al-Mansour, the first Saudi woman filmmaker who was nominated in this category in 2013.
As always, the Best Documentary Feature Film nominations represent some of the most important stories of Asia Pacific, and often made in the most difficult circumstances. The nominees in 2021 are Vitaly Mansky’s Gorbachev. Heaven (Latvia, Czech Republic),Eliane Raheb’s Miguel’s War (Aanaf Hob, Lebanon, Spain, Germany), Hogir Hirori’s Sabaya (Sweden), Mohammed Abugeth and Daniel Carsenty’s The Devil’s Drivers (Lebanon, Qatar, France, Germany) and finally Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing With Fire (India).
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the amazing films that will be on display at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2021. A complete list of nominees can be found here.