More Than 50 Organisations to Enter Films for Third Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Entries have opened for the third annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) and the members of the 2009 APSA Nominations Council are confirmed, comprising international film industry experts from seven countries and two new members Maithili Rao (India) and Yuka Sakano (Japan).

Fifty-two official submitting organisations have been invited by APSA and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations - to submit films to represent their country or area in the 2009 Awards competition. To date, 46 official submitting organisations have agreed to participate with others to follow in the coming weeks.

APSA has already accepted film entries from official submitting organisations in Mongolia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In addition to country submissions, the Nominations Council and the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards are empowered to invite titles to compete at their discretion. To date, 77 invitations have been issued to films across twenty-one countries. APSA does not accept independent submissions. The deadline for entries is August 24, 2009.

The addition of new members to the Nominations Council, chaired by Hong-Joon Kim (Republic of Korea), will allow the Council to operate on a rotational basis and extend its geographical and cultural reach. The APSA Nominations Council is drawn from high profile figures from academia, film festivals and film organisations across Asia-Pacific.

Hong-Joon Kim (Republic of Korea), Professor, Department of Film, School of Film, TV and Multimedia, Korea National University of Arts, continues on as Chair. Fellow Nominations Council members are Mohammad Atebbai (Republic of Iran) Managing Director, Iranian Independents; Philip Cheah (Singapore) Board Director, Singapore International Film Festival; Russell Edwards (Australia) film critic, Variety magazine; Xie Fei (People's Republic of China) Professor, Beijing Film Academy and film director; Anne Démy-Geroe (Australia) Executive Director, Brisbane International Film Festival; Yuka Sakano (Japan) Head of International Relations, Kawakita Memorial Film Institute; and Maithili Rao (India) author and film critic.

APSA Chairman Des Power said: “Azize Tan, Aruna Vasudev, Soheir Abdel Kader and Jeannette Paulson Hereniko are four of the Founding Members of the Nominations Council, whose guidance and generosity of time over the last two years has been integral to the success of the APSAs.

Whilst they will not sit on the Council for 2009, I look forward to the contribution they will make to APSA and its Nominations Council in future and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all they have done over the past two years.”

Preparatory work will be performed by the APSA Advisory Committee to the Nominations Council who will assist the Nominations Council in reviewing eligible films. The Advisory Committee members for 2009 are Australian film critic and commentator, Peter Thompson; film critic and historian, Adrienne Mc Kibbins; New South Wales Film and Television Office executive, Paul De Carvalho; and producer/writer/director Faramarz K-Rahber.

The Nominations Council will gather in Brisbane, Australia in September to deliberate on films and reach nominees in nine of twelve award categories for the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

The nominees will be announced early October and the winners will be determined by an international jury who will assemble on the Gold Coast on November 19 to commence deliberations.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards honour the works of filmmakers across a vast region encompassing 70 and areas stretching from Egypt in the west to the Cook Islands in the east, and from Russia in the north to New Zealand in the south. Films are judged on cinematic excellence and on the way they attest to their cultural origins.

For full details on the Awards competition, entry process and key dates for 2009 visit:

http://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/filmentries

Media Enquiries:

Jill Robson Asia Pacific Screen Awards M +61 (0) 458 404 527 [email protected]

Or visit: http://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/news_room/apsa_media_centre

The outstanding works of filmmakers across the Asia-Pacific region will feature in television programs titled Scene by Scene to be broadcast globally on CNN International during 2009.

The Director General of UNESCO has given his formal endorsement for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be conducted under the auspices of UNESCO.

FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations has endorsed the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Charter Rules and Regulations.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is an international cultural initiative of the Queensland Government, Australia.