# Asia Pacific Screen Awards

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia, sometimes called "Asia-Pacific Oscars". In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures through the influential medium of cinema, it honours and promotes the films, actors, directors, and cultures of the Asia Pacific area to a worldwide audience.

## Event history

APSA was established in 2007 and works with FIAPF, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. An international jury selects the winners, and films are evaluated based on their cinematic quality and how well they reflect their cultural backgrounds. More than 70 nations and regions in the Asia Pacific region are represented by APSA, which introduces their films to new international audiences. It is a sister organisation to the European Film Academy and Premios PLATINO del Cine Iberoamericano.
Nominees are inducted into the Asia Pacific Screen Academy. Australian screen legend, Jack Thompson AM, is the President of the Academy.
Members of the International Jury in the past include Tran Anh Hung, Annemarie Jacir, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Garin Nugroho, Diana El Jieroudi, Eric Khoo, Mike Downey, Rubaiyat Hossain, Alexander Rodnyansky, Nia Dinata, Deepak Rauniyar, Jill Bilcock, He Saifei, Adolfo Alix Jr, Asghar Farhadi, Anthony Chen, Hiam Abbass, Lu Yue, Maciej Stuhr, Rajit Kapur, Shyam Benegal, Malini Fonseka, Nansun Shi, David Puttnam, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Salman Aristo, Gina Kim, Samuel Maoz, Kaori Momoi, Tahmineh Milani, Jan Chapman, Sasson Gabai, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Aparna Sen, Bruce Beresford, Huang Jianxin, Shabana Azmi and Jafar Panahi.

## Film categories and awards

The following types of film are eligible for submission of movies:
* Feature Film (60+ minutes)
* Animated Film (40+ minutes)
* Youth Film (60+ minutes and made for and/or about young people to the age of 18 years)
* Documentary film (40+ minutes)
As of 2024 following accomplishments are recognised with the following awards:
* Best Film
* Best Animated Film
* Best Documentary Film
* Best Youth Film
* Best Director
* Best Screenplay
* Best Cinematographer
* Best Performance
* Best New Performer
* Jury Grand Prize
In addition, exceptional success is recognised with special awards:
* FIAPF Award, for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region
* Cultural Diversity Award for the outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film
* Young Cinema Award in partnership with NETPAC and Griffith Film School, recognises the abundant emerging talent of the Asia Pacific.

## Major award winners

| Year | Best Film | Best Animated Film | Best Documentary Film | Best Youth Film | Best Director | Best Screenplay | Best Cinematographer | Best Performance by an Actress | Best Performance by an Actor | Best Performance |
| 2007 1st | Secret Sunshine | Japan 5 Centimeters per Second | Lebanon Beirut Diaries: Truth, Lies and Videos | Indonesia Denias, Singing on the Could | Iran Rakhshan Bani-E'temad, Mohsen Abdolvahab for Mainline | Feroz Abbas Khan for Gandhi, My Father | Iran Hooman Behmanesh for Those Three | Jeon Do-yeon for Secret Sunshine | Erkan Can for Takva: A Man's Fear of God |
| 2008 2nd | Tulpan | Israel  France  Germany Waltz with Bashir | 63 Years On | Australia The Black Ballon | Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys | Eran Riklis and Suha Arraf for Lemon Tree | Lee Mogae for The Good, The Bad, The Weird | Hiam Abbass for Lemon Tree | Reza Naji for The Song of Sparrows |
| 2009 3rd | Samson & Delilah | Australia Mary and Max | Israel  Denmark  United States Defamation | South Korea A Brand New Life | Lu Chuan for City of Life and Death | Asghar Farhadi for About Elly | China Cao Yu for City of Life and Death | Kim Hye-ja for Mother | Masahiro Motoki for Departures |
| 2010 4th | Aftershock | China Piercing I | China  Canada Last Train Home | Iran The Other | Lee Chang-dong for Poetry | Samuel Maoz for Lebanon | Sudheer Palsane for The Well | Yoon Jeong-hee for Poetry | Chen Daoming for Aftershock |
| 2011 5th | A Separation | Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild | Sweden Japan  United States I Was Worth 50 Sheep | Azerbaijan Buta | Nuri Bilge Ceylan Once Upon a Time in Anatolia | Denis Osokin for Silent Souls | Turkey Gökhan Tiryaki for Once Upon A Time in Anatolia | Nadezhda Markina for Elena | Wang Baoqiang for Mr. Tree |
| 2012 6th | Beyond the Hill | Japan A Letter to Momo | Iraq  United Kingdom  Netherlands In My Mother's Arms | Indonesia The Mirror Never Lies | Brillante Mendoza for Thy Womb | Reis Çelik for Night of Silence | Touraj Aslani for Rhino Season | Nora Aunor for Thy Womb | Choi Min-sik for Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time |
| 2013 7th | Omar | Russia Ku! Kin-dza-dza | Denmark  Norway  United Kingdom The Act of Killing | South Korea Juvenile Offender | Anthony Chen for Ilo Ilo | Ritesh Batra for The Lunchbox | China Lu Yue for Back to 1942 | Zhang Ziyi for The Grandmaster | Lee Byung-hun for Masquerade |
| 2014 8th | Leviathan | Japan The Tale of Princess Kaguya | Iraq 1001 Apples | Turkey Germany Sivas | Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Winter Sleep | Nima Javidi Melbourne | China  Hong Kong Dong Jinsong for Black Coal, Thin Ice | Lü Zhong for Red Amnesia | Cliff Curtis for The Dark Horse |
| 2015 9th | Cemetery of Splendour | Japan Miss Hokusai | China The Chinese Mayor | China River | Aleksei Alekseivich German for Under Electric Clouds | Senem Tüzen for Motherland | TaiwanMark Lee Ping-bing for The Assassin | Kirin Kiki for Sweet Bean | Jung Jae-young for Right Now, Wrong Then |
| 2016 10th | Cold of Kalandar | South Korea Yeon Sang-ho for Seoul Station | Iran Mehrdad Oskouei for Starless Dreams | South Korea Yoon Ga-eun The World of Us | Feng Xiaogang for I Am Not Madame Bovary | Ryusuke Hamaguchi Tadashi Nohara & Tomoyuki Takahashi for Happy Hour | Turkey  Hungary Cevahir Şahin, Kürşat Üresin for Cold of Kalandar | Hasmine Killip for Ordinary People | Manoj Bajpayee for Aligarh |
| 2017 11th | Sweet Country | Canada Ann Marie Fleming for Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming | Syria Denmark Germany Last Men in Aleppo | Indonesia  Australia  Qatar  Netherlands Kamila Andini for The Seen and Unseen | Andrey Zvyagintsev for Loveless | Amit Masurkar& Mayank Tewari for Newton | Russia Rustam Khamdamov for The Bottomless Bag | Nato Murvanidze for Scary Mother | Rajkummar Rao for Newton |
| 2018 12th | Shoplifters | Russia Leo Gabriadze for Rezo | Australia Paul Damien Williams, Shannon Swan for Gurrumul | Turkey The Pigeon | Nadine Labaki for Capharnaüm | Dan Kleinman and Sameh Zoabi for Tel Aviv on Fire | Singapore  France  Netherlands Hideho Urata for A Land Imagined | Zhao Tao for Ash Is Purest White | Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Manto |
| 2019 13th | Parasite | Japan Makoto Shinkai for Weathering with You | Israel  Switzerland  Canada Rachel Leah Jones & Philippe Bellaiche forAdvocate | Australia Rodd Rathjen for Buoyancy | Adilkhan Yerzhanov for A Dark, Dark Man | Kantemir Balagov & Aleksandr Terekhov for Beanpole | Russia Ksenia SEREDA for Beanpole | Maxene Eigenmann for Verdict | Manoj Bajpayee for Bhonsle |
| 2021 14th | Drive My Car | Russia Andrei Khrzhanovsky for The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks | Sweden Hogir Hirori for Sabaya | South Korea Yoon Dan-bi for Moving On | Asghar Farhadi for A Hero | Ryusuke Hamaguchi& Takamasa Oe for Drive My Car | Vietnam  Singapore  France  Thailand  GermanyNguyễn Vinh Phúc for Taste | Azmeri Haque Badhon for Rehana Maryam Noor | Merab Ninidze for House Arrest |
| 2022 15th | Before, Now & Then | Aurora's Sunrise | All That Breathes | Farha | Davy Chou – Return to Seoul | Makbul Mubarak – Autobiography | Niklas Lindschau – The Stranger | (category retired) | (category retired) | Lee Jung-eun – Hommage as Ji-wan |
| 2023 16th | Perfect Days | The Siren | Against the Tide | Bauryna Salu | Celine Song for Past Lives | Anthony Shim for Riceboy Sleeps | Azamat Dulatov for Qas | | | Mouna Hawa for Inshallah a Boy |

## Other awards

On November 29, 2018, the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards presented the Best Original Score Asia Pacific Screen Award for the first time. The head of the jury for the first-ever award was Ryuichi Sakamoto. This new category is intended to "honour more excellent films and the musicians who contribute so profoundly to the emotions of the movie," according to APSA Chairman Michael Hawkins.

### Winners and nominees
#### 2018

| Year | Nominees | English title | Original title |
| 2018 | Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jóhann Jóhannsson | Mary Magdalene | |
| 2018 | Eléni Karaïndrou | Bomb, A Love Story | Bomb, Yek Asheghaneh |
| 2018 | Harry Gregson-Williams | Breath | |
| 2018 | Omar Fadel | Yomeddine | |
| 2018 | Ryan Cayabyab | The Portrait | |

## Footnotes

* ↑ This category was created in 2022, superseding the previous Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor.