China's Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng) leads the list of nominees in the Asia Pacific region's annual film honours, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Feng Xiaogang's disaster film garnered a record six nominations, including best film and best director in the nominations, which were announced today on Queensland's Gold Coast.
The pan-regional film awards, now in their fourth year, acclaim films from 70 countries and areas; collectively, the pool of contender countries generates half the world's film output.
In total, the nominations council has culled the contenders to 31 documentary, animated, children's and feature films from 15 countries. Best Feature nominees hail from Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the People's Republic of China.
In announcing the nominations, the APSA Nominations Council singled out lead contender Aftershock for its ability to 'deftly balance a large scale epic story with the intimate drama of one family dealing with the aftermath of the devastating 1976 Tangshan earthquake that took the lives of 240,000 people'. The highest grossing domestic film of all time in China, it leads the nominations pool with nods for Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Achievement in Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress.
The second most nominated film in the 2010 APSAs is Poetry (Shi, Republic of Korea), written and directed by Lee Chang-dong, which has received four nominations: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Performance by an Actress for Yun Jung-hee. Lee Chang-dong is a past recipient of an APSA, having taken home the top prize in the inaugural awards, for Secret Sunshine (Miryang). Poetry screened In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year, where Lee Chang-dong won the Best Screenplay award.
Taiwanese director Doze Niu Chen-zer's ganster film Monga (Mengjia), is in contention for three APSAs: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing and Achievement in Cinematography. Honey (Bal), from Turkey, directed and produced by Semih Kaplanoğlu, has also received three nominations: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing and Achievement in Cinematography. Winner of the Golden Bear Award at the 2010 Berlinale, Honey is the third film in Kaplanoğlu's Yusuf Trilogy. The final nominee in the Best Feature Film category is Paju from the Republic of Korea, also nominated for Best Performance by an Actress for Seo Woo. Paju is directed by one of Korea's most notable female filmmakers, Park Chan-Ok, and produced by Kim Ju-kyung and Lee Eun.
On the local front, Rachel Perkins' indigenous road trip musical Bran Nue Dae is also in contention for an APSA, somewhat curiously, in the best children's film category. There it will compete against Taika Waititi's Boy, Alex Law's Crystal Bear-winning Hong Kong drama Echoes of the Rainbow, Iran's Mehdi Rahmani's The Other (Digari) and India's Udaan, which was selected for Cannes 2010's Un Certain Regard.
Winners in the fourth annual APSAs will be determined by an International Jury headed by Academy Award-winning producer Lord David Puttnam and announced at a Ceremony on Australia's Gold Coast on December 2.
The full list of Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominees is as follows:
BEST FEATURE FILM
Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Produced by Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping, Wang Zhonjun, Peter Lam Kin Ngok, Wang Tonguan and Albert Yeung.
Honey (Bal)
Turkey / Germany
Produced by Semih Kaplanoğlu.
Co-Produced by Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper.
Monga (Mengjia)
Taiwan
Produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer.
Paju
Republic of Korea
Produced by Kim Ju-kyung and Lee Eun.
Poetry (Shi)
Republic of Korea
Produced by Lee Joon-dong.
BEST CHILDREN'S FEATURE FILM
Boy
New Zealand
Produced by Ainsley Gardiner, Cliff Curtis and Emanuel Micheal.
Co-Produced by Merata Mita.
Bran Nue Dae
Australia
Produced by Robyn Kershaw and Graeme Isaac.
Echoes of the Rainbow (Shui Yuet Sun Tau)
Hong Kong (People's Republic of China)
Produced by Mabel Cheung.
Co-Produced by Candy Leung.
The Other (Digari)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Produced by Mohammad Ali Najafi.
Udaan
India
Produced by Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap and Ronnie Screwvala.
Co-Produced by Aarti Bajaj, Zarina Mehta, Deven Khote and Siddarth Roy Kapur.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
King of Thorn (Ibara no Ou)
Japan
Produced by Yasumasa Tsuchiya.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Australia / USA
Produced by Zareh Nalbandian.
Mai Mai Miracle (Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho)
Japan
Produced by Tomohiko Iwase, Miho Ichii and Ryoichiro Matsuo.
Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (Hottarake no Shima - Haruka to Maho no Kagami)
Japan
Produced by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Chihiro Kameyama.
Piercing I
People's Republic of China
Produced by Lynne Wang.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
12 Angry Lebanese: The Documentary
Lebanon
Produced by Zeina Daccache.
Budrus
Palestinian Territories / Israel / USA
Produced by Ronit Avni, Julia Bacha and Rula Salameh.
Co-Produced by Sandi DuBowski and Darius Fisher.
Enemies of the People
Cambodia / United Kingdom
Produced by Robert Lemkin and Thet Sambath.
Karamay
People's Republic of China
Produced by Zhu Rikun
Last Train Home
People's Republic of China / Canada
Produced by Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross.
Co-Produced by Bob Moore.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Su Xiaowei for Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Hisako Kurosawa and Koji Wakamatsu for Caterpillar
Japan
Nir Bergman for Intimate Grammar (Ha'dikduk ha'pnimi)
Israel
Samuel Maoz for Lebanon (Levanon)
Israel / France / Germany
Lee Chang-dong for Poetry (Shi)
Republic of Korea
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lu Yue for Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Baris Özbiçer for Bal (Honey)
Turkey / Germany
Jake Pollock for Mengjia (Monga)
Taiwan
Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan for Raavan
India
Sudhir Palsane for Vihir (The Well)
India
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS
Xu Fan for Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Tejaswini Pandit for I am Sindhutai Sakpal (Mee Sindhutai Sakpal)
India
Seo Woo for Paju
Republic of Korea
Yun Jung-hee for Poetry (Shi)
Republic of Korea
Yu Nan for Weaving Girl (Fang Zhi Gu Niang)
People's Republic of China
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR
Chen Daoming for Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Tony Barry for Home by Christmas
New Zealand
Sergei Puskepalis for How I Ended This Summer (Kak ya provel etim letom)
Russian Federation
Mark Ivanir for The Human Resources Manager
Israel / Germany / France / Romania
Atul Kulkarni for Natarang
India
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Feng Xiaogang for Aftershock (Tangshan dadizheng)
People's Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)
Semih Kaplanoğlu for Honey (Bal)
Turkey / Germany
Doze Niu Chen-zer for Mengjia (Monga)
Taiwan
Lee Chang-dong for Poetry (Shi)
Republic of Korea
Wang Quan An for Weaving Girl (Fang Zhi Gu Niang)
People's Republic of China
