Nearly 40 films from more than 20 countries were nominated
Brisbane embraced its aspirations of positioning itself as Australia's newest 'world' city with last night's ninth Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony, held at City Hall, celebrating the finest in film from across the world's fastest-growing cinema-making region.
Thirty-nine films from 22 countries were nominated for the awards — which are held as part of the concurrent Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival — with Thai/Malay/French/German/UK production Cemetery Of Splendour (Rak ti Khon Kaen), directed by Apchatpong Weerasethakul, earning the night's highest honour by taking out the prize for Best Feature Film.
Hany Abu-Assad, the director of BAPFF opening-night feature The Idol (Ya Tayr El Tayer, Palestine/Qatar/UAE/UK/Netherlands), was bestowed the prestigious APSA UNESCO Award, which the auteur accepted via video message, explaining the innate hopefulness at the core of his acclaimed film.
"Thank you, dear jury, for this great honor; giving us the UNESCO Award is a courageous decision at this time," Abu-Assad said in his acceptance. "The world seems to lose hope in the future. The Idol is a film about hope and our job as an artist is to keep believing in a better future. Our main job is to let people believe in making the world better, and to believe yourself that you can make a difference."
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Australian director Stephen Page was awarded an APSA UNESCO Award Special Mention — one of a handful of nods for outstanding nominees in addition to the prizewinners — for his work on his lauded film Spear.
Korean actor Jung Jaeyoung took home the gong for Best Performance By An Actor, for Right Now, Wrong Then (Jigeumeun Matgo Geuttaeneun Teullida), while venerated veteran actress Kirin Kiki won Best Performance By An Actress — the first Japanese actress to do so — for her role in An (Japan/France/Germany).
The night featured appearances from Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, APSA chairman Michael Hawkins, APSA Academy president and celebrated actor Jack Thompson, with stalwart Melburnians The Bombay Royale providing the post-show entertainment.
See below for a full rundown of winners from the night's event. The Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival runs until this Sunday, 29 November. See BAPFF's website for more information.
Cemetery of Splendour (Rak ti Khon Kaen)
Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom
River (Gtsngbo)
People's Republic of China
Miss Hokusai (Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai)
Japan
The Chinese Mayor (Datong)
People's Republic of China
Alexey German Jr for Under Electric Clouds (Pod elektricheskimi oblakami)
Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland
Senem Tüzen for Motherland (Ana Yurdu)
Turkey, Greece
Mark Lee Ping-bing for The Assassin (Nie Yinniang)
Taiwan
Lu Songye for Tharlo
People's Republic of China
Kirin Kiki in An
Japan, France, Germany
Fatemeh Motamed Arya in Avalanche (Bahman)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Jung Jaeyoung in Right Now, Wrong Then (Jigeumeun Matgo Geuttaeneun Teullida)
Republic of Korea
Hany Abu-Assad for The Idol (Ya Tayr El Tayer)
Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Netherlands
Stephen Page for Spear
Australia
Esaad Younis
Egypt
Mirlan Abdykalykov for Heavenly Nomadic (Sutak)
Kyrgyzstan
Park Jungbum for writing/directing/acting in Alive (Sanda)
Republic of Korea
Emin Alper for writing and directing Frenzy (Abluka)
Turkey, Qatar, France