Our Correspondent
Imphal, Oct.13 (EMN): Manipuri film ‘Loktak Lairembee’ (Lady of the Lake) gets two nominations for the prestigious 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), Brisbane.
The nominations for the 11th APSA, the region’s highest accolade in film, celebrating cinematic excellence, were announced on Friday by Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, together with former APSA International Jury President Lord DavidPuttnam, member of the APSA 2017 Nominations Council Kiki Fung and Chair of APSA and its Academy, Michael Hawkins.
Altogether 41 films from 21 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region have received nominations in 2017, including the first nomination for a film from Bhutan.
Indian film won five nominations which include two nominations for a Manipuri film.
Haobam Paban Kumar won nomination for the APSA UNESCO Cultural Diversity Award along with Shehnad J Jalal for Best Cinematographer for the film Loktak Lairembee (Lady of the Lake), Sanal kumar Sasidharan won Best Director Nomination for the film Sexy Durga, Rajkummar Rao won Best Actor Nomination for the film Newton and Amit V Masurkar and Mayank Tewari won Best Screenplay Nomination for the film Newton. The winners will be announced on Nov. 23, according to release.
This is the first time that a Manipuri film has been nominated for this prestigious award, it added. Chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its Academy Michael Hawkins said, as APSA forges into its 11th year, it is significant to note that amongst the nominees there are not only a great number of newer filmmakers, but also a large number of filmmakers who are already a part of the growing Asia Pacific Screen Academy, which was created precisely to encompass and connect the large body of talented filmmakers in the Asia Pacific Region.
Across all Awards and Achievements, which encompasses the films judged by two International Juries, films from Australia, Japan and People’s Republic of China lead the nomination tally with six each.
The nominations were drawn from the 298 films that were In Competition for APSA. The nominees were decided by the International Nominations Council from 47 Asia Pacific countries and areas – the largest country spread to date, which for the first time featured a film from Oman. In 2017, 26% of films In Competition were directed by women and 51% were directed by first or second time filmmakers.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, based in Brisbane, is supported by Brisbane City Council and managed by its economic development board, Brisbane Marketing. APSA has the privilege of a unique collaboration with Paris-based UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and recognises and promotes cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and is responsible for half of the world’s film output.Nominees and Jury members are inducted into the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, making them eligible to apply for the 2017 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund.
The Fund was created to support, at script stage, new feature film projects originated by APSA Academy members and their colleagues across Asia Pacific.
