MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) announced members of the 2010 APSA Nominations Council, comprising international film industry experts from eight countries drawn from high profile academic institutions, film festivals and film organisations across Asia-Pacific. The 2010 Council chaired by professor Hong-Joon Kim (Republic of Korea) includes two new members: producer/ director Nan Achnas (Indonesia) and producer/author Peggy Chiao (Taiwan).
Entries have opened for the competition, now in its fourth year. Films from a vast range of countries including Cambodia, Japan, India, Turkey, Republic of Korea, Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation, Kyrgystan and New Zealand will submit films to compete for the region’s highest accolade in film, to be presented at the fourth annual APSA Ceremony on Australia’s Gold Coast on 2 December, 2010.
Fifty-one Official Submitting Organisations have been invited by APSA and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations, to submit films to represent their country or region. In addition, the Nominations Council and the APSA chairman are empowered to invite titles to compete. APSA does not accept independent submissions.
Several members of the APSA Academy have eligible projects including two time APSA winner Lee Chang-dong whose new film Poetry will be in competition at Cannes later this month. Lee’s Miryang (Secret Sunshine) won Best Feature Film and Best Performance by an Actress at the inaugural APSAs and in 2009, Ye Haeng Ja (A Brand New Life) won Best Children’s Feature Film.
Entries close on 23August 3 and the Nominations Council will gather in Brisbane, Australia, in September, to deliberate on films and reach nominees in nine of twelve award categories. Preparatory work will be performed by the Advisory Committee to the Nominations Council, chaired by film critic and historian, Adrienne Mc Kibbins, who will assist the Nominations Council in reviewing eligible films.
Nominations Council members for 2010 are: Korea National University of Arts department of Film, School of Film, TV and Multimedia chair, professor Hong-Joon Kim, Iranian Independents managing director Mohammad Atebbai, Variety magazine film critic Russell Edwards, International Istanbul Film Festival Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts director Azize Tan, film scholar and Brisbane International Film Festival former executive director Anne Démy-Geroe; Kawakita Memorial Film Institute head International Relations Yuka Sakano and author and film critic Maithili Rao.
The Nominations Council operates on a rotational basis. Founding members Philip Cheah (Singapore), Professor Xie Fei (People’s Republic of China), Aruna Vasudev (India), Soheir Abdel Kader (Egypt) and Jeannette Paulson Hereniko (Hawaii) will not sit on the council in 2010.
APSA nominees will be announced early October and winners in each category will be determined by an International Jury who will assemble on Australia’s Gold Coast on 22 November to commence deliberations. The 2010 International Jury president, will be announced on 16 May from APSA’s International Launch at the Cannes Film Festival. APSA is an international cultural initiative of the Queensland State Government, Australia.
