Some of the year’s most buzzed-about festival titles and Oscar contenders are among the nominees for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. APSA is similar to the EFAs except awarding films from across the Asia Pacific. Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, Japan’s submission to the Oscars, leads with three nominations followed by Burning from South Korea and Nadine Labaki's Lebanese legal drama Capharnaum each with two
Other Oscar submissions this year that snagged nominations include the Cannes best actress winner Akya from Kazakhstan, the queer drama Malila: The Farewell Flower that is Thailand’s entry and India’s child musical Village Rockstars.
Other big festival hits from the nominations across 11 categories include Venice Film Festival award winners Manta Ray from Thailand and The River from Kazakhstan, which Nathaniel raved about. Locarno’s big prize winner, a Singaporean cop drama called A Land Imagined is also there, as is Jia Zhang-ke’s Ash is Purest White from Cannes.
Considering the wide scope of the region, the most surprising nominee is no doubt Rooney Mara for Mary Magdalene. The bible movie from Lion director Garth Davis hasn’t received an American release as a casualty of the fallout from the Weinstein Company’s collapse. Other recognisable names include Payman Maadi, the male star of Asghar Farhadi's A Separation and About Elly, nominated for writing Bomb, A Love Story (which he also directs and stars in), two-time Oscar nominee Bruce Beresford for directing Ladies in Black, and British composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, Chronicles of Narnia) for the score of Breath, Simon Baker's debut as director.
Winners will be announced on the 29th of November. Here is the full list of nominees.
BEST FEATURE FILM
Shoplifters has miraculously natural child actors
Balangiga: Howling Wilderness
Philippines
Directed by Khavn DE LA CRUZ
Produced by Achinette VILLAMOR, Khavn DE LA CRUZ, Edong CANLAS
Burning
Republic of Korea
Directed by LEE Chang-dong
Produced by LEE Joon-dong, LEE Chang-dong
The Gentle Indifference of the World (Laskovoe Bezrazlichie Mira)
Kazakhstan, France
Directed by Adilkhan YERZHANOV
Produced by Serik ABISHEV, Olga KHLASHEVA
Manta Ray (Kraben Rahu)
Thailand, People’s Republic of China, France
Directed by Phuttiphong AROONPHENG
Produced by Mai MEKSAWAN, Philippe AVRIL, Jakrawal NILTHAMRONG, Chatchai CHAIYON
Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku)
Japan
Directed by KORE-EDA Hirokazu
Produced by MATSUZAKI Kaoru, YOSE Akihiko, TAGUCHI Hijiri
BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM
Ava
Islamic Republic of Iran, Qatar, Canada
Directed by by Sadaf FOROUGHI
Produced by Kiarash ANVARI, Sadaf FOROUGHI
Nervous Translation
Philippines
Directed by Shireen SENO
Produced by John TORRES
Passage of Life (Boku no kaeru basho)
Japan, Myanmar
Directed by Akio FUJIMOTO
Produced by Kazutaka WATANABE, Fumito YOSHIDA
The Pigeon (Güvercin)
Turkey
Directed by Banu SIVACI
Produced by Banu SIVACI, Mesut ULUTAŞ
Village Rockstars
India
Directed by Rima DAS
Produced by Rima DAS
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Will we see Hoffmanaida or these others show up in the Oscar eligibility list for Animated Feature?
Hoffmaniada
Russian Federation
Directed by Stanislav SOKOLOV
Produced by Yuliana SLASHCHEVA, Boris MASHKOVTSEV, Nikolai MAKOVSKY, Sergei STRUSOVSKY
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (Sayonara no asa ni yakusoku no hana o kazarô)
Japan
Directed by Mari OKADA
Produced by Naoko ENDO, Tomomi KYOTANI, Nobuhiro TAKENAKA, Nobuhiro KIKUCHI
Mirai (Mirai no Mirai)
Japan
Directed by Mamoru HOSODA
Produced by Yuichiro SAITO, Takuya ITO, Yuichi Adachi, Genki KAWAMURA
On Happiness Road (Hsing Fu Lu Shang)
Taiwan
Directed by SUNG Hsin-Yin
Produced by Sylvia FENG
Rezo (Znaesh’, mama, gde ya byl)
Russian Federation
Directed by Leo GABRIADZE
Produced by Timur BEKMAMBETOV
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Amal
Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark
Directed by Mohamed SIAM
Produced by Myriam SASSINE, Mohamed SIAM
Gurrumul
Australia
Directed by Paul Damien WILLIAMS
Produced by Shannon SWAN
Of Fathers and Sons
Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Qatar, Germany
Directed by Talal DERKI
Produced by Ansgar FRERICH, Eva KEMME, Tobias N. SIEBERT, Hans Robert EISENHAUER
Of Love & Law
Japan, United Kingdom, France
Directed by Hikaru TODA
Produced by Elhum SHAKERIFAR, Hikaru TODA
Up Down & Sideways (kho ki pa lü)
India
Directed by Anushka MEENAKSHI, Iswar SRIKUMAR
Produced by Manas MALHOTRA
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Nadine LABAKI for Capharnaüm
Lebanon
Bruce BERESFORD for Ladies in Black
Australia
Emir BAIGAZIN for The River (Ozen)
Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland
KORE-EDA Hirokazu for Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku)
Japan
Ivan AYR for Soni
India
BEST SCREENPLAY
Payman MAADI for Bomb, A Love Story (Bomb, Yek Asheghaneh)
Islamic Republic of Iran
OH Jung-mi, LEE Chang-dong for Burning
Republic of Korea
Adilkhan YERZHANOV, Roelof Jan MINNEBOO for The Gentle Indifference of the World (Laskovoe Bezrazlichie Mira)
Kazakhstan, France
KORE-EDA Hirokazu for Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku)
Japan
Dan KLEINMAN, Sameh ZOABI for Tel Aviv on Fire
Israel, Belgium, France, Luxembourg
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Malila is a gay drama and Thailand's Oscar submission
Saumyananda SAHI for Balekempa
India
Hideho URATA for A Land Imagined
Singapore, France, Netherlands
Nawarophaat RUNGPHIBOONSOPHIT for Manta Ray (Kraben Rahu)
Thailand, People’s Republic of China, France
Chaiyapruek CHALERMPORNPANIT for Malila: The Farewell Flower
Thailand
ZHANG Miaoyan, XU Zhiyong for Silent Mist
People’s Republic of China, France
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Ayka's lead actress won at Cannes, now nominated here
ZHAO Tao for Ash is Purest White (Jiang hu er nv)
People’s Republic of China, France
Samal YESLYAMOVA for Ayka
Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Germany, Poland
Rooney MARA for Mary Magdalene
Australia, United Kingdom
Damla SÖNMEZ for Sibel
Turkey, France, Germany, Luxembourg
Laura KOROLEVA for Sveta
Kazakhstan
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Zain AL RAFEEA for Capharnaüm
Lebanon
Karim MIRKHADIYEV for Fortitude (Sabot)
Uzbekistan
Nawazuddin SIDDIQUI for Manto
India
Akylbek ABDYKALYKOV for Night Accident (Tunku Kyrsyk)
Kyrgyzstan
Bahman FARMANARA for Tale of the Sea (Hekayat-e Darya)
Islamic Republic of Iran
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF UNESCO
Ala Changso
People’s Republic of China
Directed by Sonthar GYAL
Produced by Yungdrung GYAL
Balangiga: Howling Wilderness
Philippines
Directed by Khavn DE LA CRUZ
Produced by Achinette VILLAMOR, Khavn DE LA CRUZ, Edong CANLAS
The Lord Eagle (Toyon Kyyl)
Russian Federation
Directed by Eduard NOVIKOV
Produced by Dmitrii SHADRIN
Memories of My Body (Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku)
Indonesia
Directed by Garin NUGROHO
Produced by Ifa ISFANSYAH
The Taste of Rice Flower (Mi Hua Zhi Wei)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by Pengfei
Produced by Pengfei, LIU Jing, Rebecca HO
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Eléni KARAÏNDROU for Bomb, A Love Story (Bomb, Yek Asheghaneh)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Harry GREGSON-WILLIAMS for Breath
Australia
Hildur GUÐNADÓTTIR, Jóhann JÓHANNSSON for Mary Magdalene
Australia, United Kingdom
Ryan CAYABYAB for The Portrait (Ang Larawan)
Philippines
Omar FADEL for Yomeddine
Egypt