The Asia Pacific Screen Academy today announced the nominees for the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), and launched the program for the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Forum.
Taking place on Saturday 30 November, the awards represent 31 out of 78 countries in the Asia Pacific region, and the nominations celebrate the films that ‘best reflect their cultural origins’ and the ‘diversity of the vast region’.
Leading the pack with five nominations are two films directed by women: Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light (France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg), described as ‘an ode to nocturnal Mumbai’, and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April (Georgia, Italy, France), the story of an ob-gyn. Both features are nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Performance.
Also competing for Best Film are Yoko Yamanaka’s Tokyo-set story of a young woman’s mental illness, Desert of Namibia (Japan); Neo Sora’s future Tokyo tale of social surveillance Happyend (Japan, USA); and Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse (Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, USA), a stunning portrait of a Mongolian horseman turned performer, based on a true story.
Four of the five films nominated for Best Film are from female directors, and in an APSA first, all are first or second features.
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Australia is represented in the categories for Best Youth Film and Best Animated Film, where the live action/animated omnibus Magic Beach and Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail are competing, respectively.
Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Tracey Vieira, said: ‘Congratulations to all the nominees in the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, who we welcome into the esteemed group of the region’s filmmakers, The Asia Pacific Screen Academy. In 2024, two thirds of our nominated films are debut or second films, representing the cinematic excellence of the next generation of Asia Pacific voices, and the unique and compelling stories they are choosing to tell’.
The awards are followed by the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Forum, which takes place this 27-30 November at The Langham on the Gold Coast, on the traditional land of the Kombumerri families of the Yugambeh language region.
APSA’s theme for 2024 is Land, which their representatives say ‘encompasses traditional, cultural, and historical meanings, and serves as a powerful lens through which we can explore the relationship between identity, sovereignty, and the stories we tell through film’. The 2024 Forum’s Opening Night kicks off a program which features a full day of talks and workshops under the banner title Connect: Navigating the Human Side of Co-Productions.
There’ll be a special conversation series named in honour of the late NETPAC founder Aruna Vasudev, Roundtables, a focus on cultural preservation, a youth pitching workshop and a series of networking events including APSA’s early career filmmakers event Reel Connections.
The APSA 2024 nominees:
BEST FILM
All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Directed by Payal Kapadia
Produced by Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff
April
Georgia, Italy, France
Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili
Produced by Ilan Amouyal, Archil Gelovani, Luca Guadagnino, Gabriele Moratti, Alexandra Rossi, David Zerat
Desert of Namibia
Japan
Directed by Yoko Yamanaka
Produced by Keisuke Konishi
Happyend
Japan, United States of America
Directed by Neo Sora
Produced by Albert Tholen, Aiko Masubuchi, Eric Nyari, Alex C Lo, Anthony Chen
To Kill a Mongolian Horse
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United States of America
Directed by Xiaoxuan Jiang
Produced by Zhulin Mo
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BEST YOUTH FILM
Boong
India
Directed by Lakshmipriya Devi
Produced by Alan McAlex, Vikesh Bhutani, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Shujaat Saudagar
Magic Beach
Australia
Directed by Robert Connolly, Emma Kelly, Susan Danta, Lee Whitmore, Anthony Lucas, Kathy Sarpi, Eddie White, Simon Rippingale, Pierce Davison, Marieka Walsh, Susie Shapones, Jake Duczynski
Produced by Liz Kearney, Kate Laurie, Robert Connolly, Chloé Brugalé
She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones (Kai Shi De Qiang)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by Qu Youjia
Produced by Meng Xie, Xianjian Wu
Sunshine
Philippines
Directed by Antoinette Jadaone
Produced by Geo Lomuntad, Dan Villegas, Bianca Balbuena
The Mountain
New Zealand
Directed by Rachel House
Produced by Desray Armstrong, Morgan Waru
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BEST ANIMATED FILM
Ghost Cat Anzu
Japan, France
Directed by Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Produced by Keiichi Kondo, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Hiroyuki Negishi
Memoir of a Snail
Australia
Directed by Adam Elliot
Produced by Liz Kearney, Adam Elliot
Pig That Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Republic of Korea
Directed by Hur Bum-wook
Produced by Hur Bum-wook, Cho Heaseung
The Colors Within (Kimi no Iro)
Japan
Directed by Naoko Yamada
Produced by Eunyoung Choi, Yoshihiro Furusawa, Genki Kawamura, Wakana Okamura, Kohei Sakita
The Missing (Iti Mapukpukaw)
Philippines
Directed by Carl Joseph Papa
Produced by Geo Lomuntad, Dan Villegas
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Breaking the Cycle
Thailand
Directed by Aekaphong Saransate, Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn
Produced by Komtouch Napattaloong, Tanwarat Sombatwattana
Kamay
Afghanistan, Belgium, France, Germany
Directed by Ilyas Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran
Produced by Ilyas Yourish, Hanne Phlypo, Evelien De Graef
No Other Land
Palestine, Norway
Directed by Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham
Produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham
XiXi
Taiwan, Philippines, Republic of Korea
Directed by Fan Wu
Produced by Venice De Castro Atienza, Fan Wu, Sona Jo, Yoonsoo Her
Youth (Homecoming) (Qing Chun (Gui))
France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Directed by Wang Bing
Produced by Sonia Buchman, Mao Hui, Nicolas R De La Mothe, Vincent Wang
BEST DIRECTOR 
Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Dea Kulumbegashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Tato Kotetishvili for Holy Electricity
Georgia, Netherlands
Rithy Panh for Meeting with Pol Pot (Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot)
France, Cambodia, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye
Xiaoxuan Jiang for To Kill a Mongolian Horse
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United States of America
BEST SCREENPLAY 
Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Dea Kulumbegashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Neo Sora for Happyend
Japan, United States of America
Selman Nacar for Hesitation Wound (Tereddüt Çizgisi)
Türkiye, Spain, Romania, France
PS Vinothraj for The Adamant Girl (Kottukkaali)
India
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
Ranabir Das for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Arseni Khachaturan for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Michaël Capron for Mongrel
Taiwan, Singapore, France
Hideho Urata for Stranger Eyes
Singapore, Taiwan, France, United States of America
Son Doan for Viet and Nam
Philippines, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, United States of America
BEST PERFORMANCE 
Kani Kusruti for All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Ia Sukhitashvili for April
Georgia, Italy, France
Yuumi Kawai for Desert of Namibia
Japan
Madina Akylbekova for Madina
Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan
Soheila Golestani for The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Islamic Republic of Iran, Germany, France
For more information on the awards and upcoming forum, head to the APSA website.
