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‘Buoyancy’, ‘The Australian Dream’ nominated for APSAs

‘Buoyancy’. 

Two Australian films – Rodd Rathjen’s debut feature Buoyancy and Daniel Gordon’s feature documentary The Australian Dream – are nominated for Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).

Some 37 films for 22 countries are nominated for the 13th iteration of the awards, which will be presented in Brisbane in November. Overall, films from China received the most nominations; 13 in total across seven films – the country is represented in all but one category.

Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang) leads the tally with nominations across six categories: actor (Wang Jingchun), actress (Yong Mei), screenplay (A Mei, Wang Xiaoshuai), cinematography (Kim Hyunseok), directing (Wang Xiaoshuai) and Best Feature Film (director, Wang Xiaoshuai, producer Liu Xuan).

Fellow nominees for Best Feature Film are Pema Tseden’s Balloon (Qìqiú, China); Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole (Dylda, Russian Federation), Ridham Janve’s The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (Sona Dhwandi Bhed Te Suchha Pahad, India) and Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winning Parasite (Gisaengchung, Republic of Korea).

Announced today alongside the nominations was the Asia Pacific Screen Forum, an industry-wide program of professional and networking events, designed to build ties between filmmakers and screen industries of the region. It will run across November 18-21 in Brisbane.

Rathjen’s Buoyancy, which follows a 14-year-old Cambodian boy sold as a slave labourer to the captain of a Thai fishing vessel, produced by Causeway Films, is nominated for Best Youth Feature Film. It will vie against Xue Bai’s The Crossing (Guo Chun Tian, China); Lina Wang’s A First Farewell (Di yi ci de li bie, China); Shahrbanoo Sadat’s The Orphanage (Parwareshgah, Afghanistan, Denmark, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Qatar) and Tashi Gyeltshen’s The Red Phallus (Bhutan, Nepal, Germany). 

Buoyancy, a Khmer and Thai-language film, is also Australia’s submission for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award (formerly the Best Foreign Language Film award).

The Australian Dream, directed by Gordon and written by Stan Grant, is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film. An Australian-UK co-production between Good Thing Productions and Passion Pictures, the film examines race, identity and belonging in Australia through the story of former Sydney Swans captain Adam Goodes.

Others films up in the category include Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche’s Advocate (Israel, Canada, Switzerland), Victor Kossakovsky’s Aquarela (United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark), Farzad Khoshdast’s Narrow Red Line (Khat-e Barik-e Ghermez, Iran) and Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s One Child Nation (China, USA).

Kiwi/Chinese film Mosley is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, up against Penguin Highway (Japan), Underdog (Republic of Korea), The Unseen (Iran) and Weathering With You (Japan).

Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins congratulated the nominees.

“APSA ignites and honours cinematic excellence, across the vast region of Asia Pacific,” he said.

“The spread of nominees encompasses some of the region’s most acclaimed auteurs and outstanding emerging voices and APSA is proud to foster their development and opportunities through the Asia Pacific Screen Forum and their induction to the Asia Pacific Screen Academy.”

The winners will presented at a ceremony in Brisbane November 21.

The full list of nominees below:

BEST FEATURE FILM

Balloon (Qìqiú)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by Pema TSEDEN
Produced by HUANG Xufeng, Jacky PANG

Beanpole (Dylda)
Russian Federation
Directed by Kantemir BALAGOV
Produced by Alexander RODNYANSKY, Sergey MELKUMOV

The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (Sona Dhwandi Bhed Te Suchha Pahad)
India
Directed by Ridham JANVE
Produced by Akshay SINGH, Ridham JANVE

Parasite (Gisaengchung)
Republic of Korea
Directed by BONG Joon -ho
Produced by KWAK Sin-ae, MOON Yang-kwon, JANG Young-hwan

So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by WANG Xiaoshuai
Produced by LIU Xuan

BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM

Buoyancy
Australia
Directed by Rodd RATHJEN
Produced by Samantha JENNINGS, Kristina CEYTON, Rita WALSH

The Crossing (Guo Chun Tian)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by BAI Xue
Produced by Cary CHENG

A First Farewell (Di yi ci de li bie)
People’s Republic of China
Directed by WANG Lina
Produced by CAI Qingzeng, QIN Xiaoyu

The Orphanage (Parwareshgah)
Afghanistan, Denmark, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Qatar
Directed by Shahrbanoo SADAT
Produced by Katja ADOMEIT

The Red Phallus
Bhutan, Nepal, Germany
Directed by Tashi GYELTSHEN
Produced by Tashi GYELTSHEN, Kristina KONRAD, Ram Krishna POKHAREL

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Mosley
New Zealand, People’s Republic of China
Directed by Kirby ATKINS
Produced by Daniel STORY, Bill BOYCE

Penguin Highway
Japan
Directed by Hiroyasu ISHIDA
Produced by Yoko MATSUZAKI, Koji YAMAMOTO

Underdog
Republic of Korea
Directed by OH Sung-yoon, LEE Choon-baek
Produced by OH Sung-yoon

The Unseen (Kaghaz-Pareh ha)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Directed by Behzad NALBANDI
Produced by Behzad NALBANDI

Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko)
Japan
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Produced by Genki Kawamura

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

Advocate
Israel, Canada, Switzerland
Directed by Rachel Leah JONES, Philippe BELLAÏCHE
Produced by Philippe BELLAÏCHE, Rachel Leah JONES, Paul CADIEUX, Joëlle BERTOSSA

Aquarela
United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark
Directed by Victor KOSSAKOVSKY
Produced by Aimara REQUES, Heino DECKERT, Sigrid DYEKJÆR

The Australian Dream
Australia, United Kingdom
Directed by Daniel GORDON
Produced by Sarah THOMSON, Nick BATZIAS, Virginia WHITWELL, John BATTSEK

Narrow Red Line (Khat-e Barik-e Ghermez)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Directed by Farzad Khoshdast
Produced by Negar Eskandarfar, Farzad Khoshdast

One Child Nation
People’s Republic of China, United States of America
Directed by Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
Produced by Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christoph Jörg, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Adilkhan YERZHANOV for A Dark, Dark Man

Kazakhstan, France

Lav DIAZ for The Halt (Ang Hupa)

Philippines

Elia SULEIMAN for It Must Be Heaven

Palestine, Qatar, Turkey, Canada, France, Germany

Anocha SUWICHAKORNPONG, Ben RIVERS for Krabi, 2562

Thailand, United Kingdom

WANG Xiaoshuai for So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)

People’s Republic of China

BEST SCREENPLAY

Pema TSEDEN for Balloon (Qìqiú)

People’s Republic of China

Kantemir BALAGOV, Alexander TEREKHOV for Beanpole (Dylda)

Russian Federation

Mohsen Gharaei, Mohammad Davoudi for Castle of Dreams (Ghasr-e Shirin)

Islamic Republic of Iran

Tamar SHAVGULIDZE for Comets

Georgia

A Mei, WANG Xiaoshuai for So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)

People’s Republic of China

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ksenia SEREDA for Beanpole (Dylda)

Russian Federation

YU Ninghui, DENG Xu for Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Chun Jiang Shui Nuan)

People’s Republic of China

Saurabh MONGA for The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (Sona Dhwandi Bhed Te Suchha Pahad)

India

Teoh Gay HIAN for The Science of Fictions (Hiruk-Pikuk Si-Alkisah)

Indonesia, Malaysia, France

KIM Hyunseok for So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)

People’s Republic of China

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

Viktoria MIROSHNICHENKO for Beanpole (Dylda)

Russian Federation

Samal YESLYAMOVA for The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time

Kazakhstan, Japan

Ji-hu PARK for House of Hummingbird (Beol-sae)

Republic of Korea, United States of America

YONG Mei for So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)

People’s Republic of China

Max EIGENMANN for Verdict

Philippines, France

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR

Manoj BAJPAYEE for Bhonsle

India

Eran NAIM for Chained (Eynayim Sheli)

Israel, Germany

Navid Mohammadzadeh for Just 6.5 (Metri Shisho Nim)

Islamic Republic of Iran

Mohsen TANABANDEH for Rona, Azim’s Mother (Rona, Madar-e Azim)

Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan

WANG Jingchun for So Long, My Son (Di Jiu Tian Chang)

People’s Republic of China

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF UNESCO

Bhonsle
India
Directed by Devashish MAKHIJA
Produced by Abhayanand SINGH, Shabana Raza BAJPAYEE, Sandiip KAPUR, Piiyush SINGH, Saurabh GUPTA

It Must Be Heaven
Palestine, Qatar, Turkey, Canada, France, Germany
Directed by Elia SULEIMAN
Produced by Édouard WEIL, Laurine PELASSY, Elia SULEIMAN, Thanassis KARATHANOS, Martin HAMPEL, Serge NOËL

Made in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, France, Denmark, Portugal
Directed by Rubaiyat HOSSAIN
Produced by François d’ARTEMARE, Ashique MOSTAFA

Rona, Azim’s Mother (Rona, Madar-e Azim)
Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan
Directed by Jamshid MAHMOUDI
Produced by Navid MAHMOUDI

The Sun Above Me Never Sets (Min urduber kyun khahan da kiirbet)
Russian Federation
Directed by Liubov BORISOVA|
Produced by Dmitrii SHADRIN, Sardana SAVVINA

FIAPF AWARD

To be announced

Determined by FIAPF–International Federation of Film Producers Associations for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region.

YOUNG CINEMA AWARD

To be announced at the APSA Ceremony

The Young Cinema Award presented by NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) and Griffith Film School (GFS) recognises the abundant emerging talent of the Asia Pacific.