Turkish social drama Cold of Kalandar was the major winner at the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which were held in Brisbane last night.
The best film prize was one of three awards given to the film, which is also Turkey’s official entry for foreign language Oscar consideration. The story of impoverished farmers in northern Turkey also won the APSA for achievement in cinematography award, and a young filmmaker prize for its director, Mustafa Kara.
The APSAs celebrate diversity and craft in movies from across the Asia Pacific region, and searing social dramas were the big winners at the 10th ceremony.
The best directing prize went to China's Feng Xiaogang for his Chinese political satire I Am Not Madame Bovary, which is currently in cinemas in Australia. The APSA UNESCO Diversity prize went to The Dark Wind, a drama about the persecution of the Yazidi people living under the shadow of ISIS.
Jury head, Lord David Puttnam said: "There were two significant things I came away with: number one was how often the issue of family occurred, the importance of family and the role of family, is an underlying theme that popped up time and time again. The other that I found really encouraging was the quite extraordinary quality of the male performances. I have never seen that number of absolutely outstanding male performances – ever. Anywhere."
The jury awarded two Indian performers in the male acting category: Manoj Bajpayee won the APSA prize for his role as a gay academic fired from his position in the true story Aligarh; and Nawazuddin Siddiqui received a special mention for his performance in Anurag Kashyap's Psycho Raman (aka Raman Raghav 2.0.) An unusually restrained Kashyap accepted the prize on Siddiqui's behalf.
Filipino actress Hasmine Killip won the female acting prize for her role as a teenage mother living on the streets of Manila in Ordinary People.
Watch the trailer for 'Cold of Kalandar'
The full list of winners appears below
BEST FEATURE FILM
Cold of Kalandar (Kalandar Soğuğu)
Turkey, Hungary
Produced by Nermin Aytekin
Co-produced by Ivan Angelusz, János Rózsa
BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM
The World of Us (Woorideul)
Republic of Korea
Produced by Lee Chang-dong, Kim Soon-mo
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Seoul Station (Seoul-yeok)
Republic of Korea
Produced by Lee Dong-ha, Suh Young-joo, Yeon Sang-ho
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Starless Dreams (Royahaye Dame Sobh)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Produced by Mehrdad Oskouei
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Feng Xiaogang for I Am Not Madame Bovary (Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian)
People’s Republic of China
BEST SCREENPLAY
Ryusuke Hamaguchi , Tadashi Nohara , Tomoyuki Takahashi for Happy Hour
Japan
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cevahir Şahin, Kürşat Üresin for Cold of Kalandar (Kalandar Soğuğu)
Turkey, Hungary
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Hasmine Killip in Ordinary People (Pamilya Ordinaryo)
Philippines
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh
India
SPECIAL MENTION FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Psycho Raman (Raman Raghav 2.0)
India
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD, UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF UNESCO
Hussein Hassan for The Dark Wind (Reşeba)
Iraq, Qatar, Germany
APSA FIAPF AWARD for Outstanding Achievement in Film in the Asia Pacific region
Iranian producer Manoochehr Mohammadi
JURY GRAND PRIZE
Youn Yuh-jung in The Bacchus Lady (Jug-yeo-ju-neun yeo-ja)
Republic of Korea
JURY GRAND PRIZE
Mark Lee Ping-bing for Crosscurrent (Chang Jiang Tu)
SPECIAL MENTION: JURY GRAND PRIZE
Sunny Pawar in Lion
Australia
YOUNG CINEMA AWARD presented by NETPAC and Griffith Film School
Mustafa Kara for Cold of Kalandar (Kalandar Soğuğu) Turkey, Hungary
SPECIAL MENTION: YOUNG CINEMA AWARD presented by NETPAC and Griffith Film School
Bi Gan for Kaili Blues (Lu Bian Ye Can) People’s Republic of China
MPA APSA ACADEMY FILM FUND 2016 RECIPIENTS
Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) for Miss Camel
Joo Young Park (Republic of Korea) for Morning Star (Yeonbaek)
Rolf de Heer (Australia) for Mr Ward’s Incredible Journey
Emir Baigazin (Kazakhstan) for The River
