First winner for 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2016 announced

Image: Manoochehr Mohammadi

In Cannes, APSA and founding partner FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) announced Iranian producer Manoochehr Mohammadi as winner of the 10th FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film in the Asia Pacific Region, to be awarded at the APSA ceremony on 24 November in Brisbane, Australia.

The Cannes announcement came 15 years after Mohammadi’s film UNDER THE MOONLIGHT (Zir-e noor-e maah) won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize in 2001, and where the inaugural winner of the APSA FIAPF Award, the Brisbane-born Dr George Miller, was serving as the 69th Cannes Film Festival Jury President.

This will be the second Asia Pacific Screen Award for APSA Academy member Mohammadi, whose 2013 film THE PAINTING POOL (Hoze Naghashi), starring APSA Academy Member and 2015 APSA International Jury member Negar Javaherian, won the prestigious 2014 UNESCO Award.

Previous APSA FIAPF Award winners:
2015: Esaad Younis (Egypt)
2014: Emile Sherman (Australia)
2013: Lee Choon-yun (Republic of Korea)
2012: Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan)
2011: Zhang Yimou (People’s Republic of China)
2010: Christine Hakim (Indonesia)
2009: Isao Matsuoka (Japan)
2008: Yash Chopra (India)
2007: Dr George Miller (Australia)

MPA APSA ACADEMY FILM FUND LAUNCHES 7TH ROUND

Image: L-R Stephen Jenner, MPA, Andre Morgan, Ruddy Morgan, John Kirby AM, APSA Advisory Board, Mike Ellis, MPA, William Feng, MPA

APSA renewed its partnership with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) Asia Pacific at the 6th Beijing International Film Festival in April.

Together we launched the seventh round of the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, a scheme which awards four $US25,000 script development grants to APSA Academy members and their feature film projects.

At Beijing, we also announced the Film Fund judges. Returning Chair Andrew Pike (Australia) will be joined by André Morgan (USA/China), the Oscar-winning founder of production company Ruddy Morgan Organisation, and Fujioka Asako (Japan), former director of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and longstanding selection committee member for the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Network of Documentary Fund.

The MPA Film Fund has a notable record of identifying quality scripts which then go on to be produced, distributed and win recognition at festivals. MPA Film Fund recipients include:

• Asghar Farhadi’s A SEPARATION which went on to win over 100 awards internationally including an Oscar, Golden Globe, Golden Bear and APSA for Best Film.
• Maryam Ebrahimi’s NO BURQAS BEHIND BARS which swept major festivals around the globe, including an International Emmy and the biggest TV award in Europe - the Prix Europa Award for Best TV Documentary.
• Shawkat Amin Korki’s MEMORIES ON STONE which won more than a dozen international awards including the 2014 APSA UNESCO Award and was Iraq’s official submission for the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

The recipients of the grants will be announced during the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Ceremony on 24 November in Brisbane, Australia.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ASIA PACIFIC FILMMAKERS AT CANNES!

APSA would like to congratulate all the winners from the 69th Festival de Cannes.  Asia Pacific was strongly represented among the winners, including:

In Competition

• APSA multiple-winner Asghar Farhadi (Iran) for Best Screenplay for THE SALESMAN
• Shahab Hosseini (Iran) for Best Actor in THE SALESMAN
• Jaclyn Jose (Philippines) for Best Actress in APSA multi-winner Brillante Mendoza’s film MA’ ROSA
• Ryu Seong-Hie (Korea) won the Vulcain Prize for an Artist Technician for Park Chan-Wook’s MADEMOISELLE (The Handmaiden)

Un Certain Regard

• Koji Fukada (Japan) won the Jury Prize for FUCHI NI TATSU (Harmonium)

Cinefondation

• First prize - From Israel, Or Sinai, for ANNA
• Second prize - From Iran, Hamid Ahmadi for IN THE HILLS

Golden Eye Documentary Award

• Special mention - From India, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya for THE CINEMA TRAVELERS

Sponsors Awards at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight

• Art Cinema Award to a feature film - From Afghanistan, Shahrbanoo Sadat for WOLF & SHEEP

International Critics’ Week

• France 4 Visionary Award - From Turkey, Mehmet Can Mertoğlu for ALBUM
• Leica Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film - From Indonesia, Wregas Bhanuteja for PRENJAK

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN LAB

Submissions are now open for the third round of the Asia Pacific Screen Lab (APSL), an intensive development lab aimed at feature-length stories from emerging Asia Pacific filmmakers.

The immersive year-long development incubator program is an initiative of Griffith Film School, the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC), in collaboration with the Sun Foundation and Temenggong Artists in Residence. 

APSL’s submission deadline is 30 September, 6pm (GMT+10), with those selected announced during the Busan International Film Festival in October. Representatives of the selected projects will be invited to attend the Asia Pacific Screen Award Ceremony and meet with their mentors, drawn from the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Academy.

Submission requirements and regulations can be found at griffith.edu.au/filmschool.

AWARDS PRESENTATIONS IN IRAN AND TURKEY

Image: L-R Emin Alper, Maxine Williamson

APSA BAPFF Film Director Maxine Williamson has been busy visiting Iran and Turkey to present 2015 APSA awards and collect films for consideration for the 2016 APSA competition.

Williamson attended Tehran’s 34th Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) and the 19th Iranian International Market for Films and TV (IFM), a key opportunity for APSA to meet with sales agents and source films from its most highly represented country. While in Tehran, Williamson presented the 2015 APSA Jury Grand Prize to Turkish writer/director Emin Alper for FRENZY (Abluka) (Turkey, Qatar, France). Alper was in Brisbane for the 2012 APSAs where his film BEYOND THE HILL took out the top prize - APSA Best Feature Film.  Representing his film FRENZY, Alper competed in the international competition at FIFF, where he took home the award for Best Director.

Williamson also visited Istanbul as a guest of SE-YAP, the Turkish Guild of Film Producers, to present APSA to the local industry and collect Turkish film submissions for consideration for the 10th APSAs. Williamson presented the APSA 2015 Award for Best Screenplay to Turkish writer/director Senem Tüzen for MOTHERLAND (Ana Yurdu) (Turkey, Greece).