Local films up for regional award

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 10/07/2007 8:27 AM | Life

Cynthia Webb, Gold Coast, Australia

The inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony will be held on 13th November, 2007, at the Sheraton Mirage Hotel, Gold Coast. This idea, whose time has definitely come, brings together CNN International, UNESCO and The International Federation of Film Producers Associations, (FIAPF).

The Queensland government is behind the idea, because of its enormous cultural benefits as well as business and marketing opportunities that will be provided for the local film industry, and possible tourism spin off from worldwide publicity.

South East Queensland is home to the state of the art Warner Bros/Village Roadshow complex of film studios, and the region has a lot of filmmaking professionals and great locations nearby. These awards are set to become an annual event and a prestigious occasion on the world's calendar of cinematic events.

The area encompassed in the Asia-Pacific region includes the most culturally diverse region in the world, including seventy countries, covering one third of the earth's surface, and has 60 percent of its population and half of the world's film output.

Asia-Pacific is defined as countries lying between 30 degrees East and 170 degrees West, i.e. from Turkey to Samoa, and by longitude, from Russia to New Zealand.

Films have been submitted from thirty countries, including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Egypt, Iraq, Russia, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.

In the last week of September the Nominations Council met in Brisbane to determine up to five nominees in each of the nine categories, selecting from more than one hundred films. The Nominations Council Chair is Kim Hong-Joon, himself a film festival director, and a filmmaker and educator, based at the Korean National University of Arts.

The Council members were, Mohammad Attebai, (Iran), Philip Cheah, (Singapore), Russell Edwards (Australia), Xie Fie (China), Anne Demy-Geroe (Australia), Jeannette Paulson Hereniko (Hawaii, USA), Soheri Abd El Kader (Egypt), Azize Tan (Istanbul), and Aruna Vasudev (India).

The categories to be awarded are:

Best Feature Film, Best Animated Film, Best Documentary, Best Children's Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay, Achievement in Cinematography, Performance by an Actress, Performance by an Actor.

There are also two additional major awards:

The Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region and The UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film.

The Nominations Council looked for the films that best reflect their cultural origins, and cinematic excellence. Later, the International Jury will also have this in mind. The organizers have great conviction that ""film has the power to change lives, to bridge cultural divides and to deliver understanding into hearts and minds"".

UNESCO is interested because it sees film as a powerful influence on cultural change, and a means by which we can best preserve our respective cultures, learn about one another and develop greater understanding.

As CNN are planning to screen worldwide, two feature programs under the title""Scene by Scene"", which will give the personalities and the product of the Asia-Pacific region access to their biggest international audience ever.

The programs will be linked to the Awards and the first one screens on the 10th, 11th, and 12th November and is called ""Filmmakers of Asia Pacific"". It is scheduled prior to the Awards Ceremony and will report on the year in film in the region.

The second show, ""Best Films of Asia Pacific"", airs on November 17th and 18th, after the Awards Ceremony and will feature highlights, including interviews with the nominees, winners and the members of the international jury headed by the esteemed Indian actress and humanitarian, Shabana Azmi. The names of the jury members have not yet been announced.

""The`Scene by Scene' documentaries will weave their way through the sub-continent from Nepal in the Himalayas, to Central Asia, the Middle East, then to North and South East Asia and Australasia"", explained CNN Executive Producer, David Lindsay.

CNN's International Senior Vice-President, Rena Golden said, ""The Asia Pacific film industry is innovative, dynamic and entertaining. It also provides a fascinating window on an ever-changing region. So CNN is delighted to provide a platform for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to reach a truly global audience.""

Production of the television programs is already completed and includes interviews with John Woo, on the set of his new film, ""The Battle of Red Cliff"", Chinese Director, Chen Kaige, Indonesia's Garin Nugroho, Indian superstar and Jury President, Shabana Azmi, Mamuro Oshii, of the Japanese Anime Studio Ghibli, Korean director, Bong Joon-ho, Egyptian actor, and actor, Omar Sharif. The interviews will be inter-cut with footage from film studios, film festivals, and film sets around the region.

The nominations, made available on 3rd October, included two films from Indonesia: Garin Nugroho's ""Opera Jawa"" has been nominated for Best Feature Film, and ""Denias, senandung di atas awan"" (""Denias, singing on a cloud"") directed by John De Rantau, in the Best Children's Feature Film category. As sometimes occurs at the Academy Awards too, Garin's name is not in the list for Achievement in Directing.

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