Iran's 'Elly' tops APSA noms

'City of Life and Death,' 'Mother' and 'Departures' get two

By Patrick Frater

Oct 12, 2009, 04:16 AM ET

BUSAN – Iranian film "Darabaye Elly" (About Elly) topped the shortlist for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with a total of five nominations.

Nominees were announced Monday in nine award categories after a record 212 entries from 43 countries.

Also showing strongly with three nominations was "City of Life And Death," "Mother" and foreign-language Oscar-winner "Departures," with two nominations each.

Nominated for best picture were "Elly," "City of Life And Death," "Forever Enthralled," Australia's "Samson & Delilah" and Palestinian "The Time That Remains."

"The 2009 nominees represent the extraordinary breadth of talent that exists in our region in a year when the quality of Asia-Pacific films is exceptional," said APSA chairman Des Power. "The response indicates that the filmmakers of Asia-Pacific value our mission to acclaim their work and take it to a global audience," said Power.

Japan is strongly represented in 2009 with a total of seven nominations followed China with six. India, Iran, Russia and South Korea all received five nominations.

Also three Australian films were nominated ("Mary and Max," "Gandhi’s Children," "Samson & Delilah') and this year marks the first time an Australian film has been nominated in the best feature category. Territories nominated in the APSAs for the first time this year are Thailand, Cambodia and Palestinian Territories.

Winners are decided by an international jury headed by Huang Jianxin and will be presented on Nov 26 in Australia’s Gold Coast.
 
BEST FEATURE FILM
Darbareye Elly (About Elly),
Nanjing! Nanjing! (City Of Life And Death), People’s Republic of China
Mei Lanfang (Forever Enthralled)
Samson & Delilah, Australia
The Time That Remains,
 
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Perviy Otryad (First Squad: The Moment Of Truth),
Mary and Max, Australia
Sukai Kurora (The Sky Crawlers), Japan
Sama Wozu (Summer Wars), Japan
Pro Fedota-Streltsa, Udalogo Molodtsa (The Tale Of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow),
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Polamuang Juling (Citizen Juling),
Hashmatsa (Defamation),
Gandhi's Children,
L'important, C'est De Rester Vivant (The Main Thing Is To Stay Alive),
Seishin (Mental)
 
 
BEST CHILDREN’S FEATURE FILM
Mommo – Kizkardesim (The Bogeyman)
Ye Haeng Ja (A Brand New Life)
3 Doa 3 Cinta (Pesantren: 3 Wishes 3 Loves),
The Strength Of Water
Tahaan (Tahaan: A Boy With A Grenade)
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Asghar Farhadi for Darbareye Elly (About Elly)
Vimukthi Jayasundara for Ahasin Wetei (Between Two Worlds)
Lu Chuan for Nanjing! Nanjing! (City of Life and Death),
Anurag Kashyap for Dev.D
Sion Sono for Ai No Mukidashi (Love Exposure)
 
BEST SCREENPLAY
Asghar Farhadi for Darbareye Elly (About Elly)
Kundo Koyama for Okuribito (Departures)
Baek Seung-bin for Jang-rye-sik-ui Member (Members of the Funeral)
Bong Joon-ho and Park Eun-kyo for Madeo (Mother)
Yogesh Vinayak Joshi and Upendra Sidhaye for Mumbai Meri Jaan (Mumbai My Life)
 
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Uruphong Raksasad for Sawan Baan Na (Agrarian Utopia)
Cao Yu for Nanjing! Nanjing! (City of Life and Death)
Ali Mohammad Ghasemi for Cheraghi Dar Meh (A Light in the Fog),
Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov for Bumazhyj Soldat (Paper Soldier)
Alexei Arsentiev for Volchok (Wolfy)
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS
Golshifteh Farahani for Darbareye Elly (About Elly)
Zhou Xun for Li Mi De Caixiang (The Equation of Love and Death)
Malini Fonseka for Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky)
Kim Hye-ja for Madeo (Mother)
Yana Troyanova for Volchok (Wolfy)
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR
Masahiro Motoki for Okuribito (Departures)
Naseeruddin Shah for A Wednesday
Mohamed Bakri for Eid Mila Laila (Laila’s Birthday)
Yang Ik-june for Ddongpari (Breathless)
Ge You for Fei Cheng Wu Rao (If You Are the One)

Iran's 'Elly' tops APSA noms

'City of Life and Death,' 'Mother' and 'Departures' get two

By Patrick Frater

Oct 12, 2009, 04:16 AM ET