All We Imagine as Light, April

Source: Luxbox / LFF

‘All We Imagine as Light’, ‘April’

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April head the nominations for the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), each securing nods in five categories.

Both will compete for best film, best director, best screenplay, best cinematography and best performance at the awards, which will be presented on November 30 at a ceremony on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

All We Imagine As Light, billed as an ode to nocturnal Mumbai, premiered in Competition at Cannes, where it won the festival’s grand prix. April, the story of a Georgian ob-gyn who faces accusations, premiered in Competition at Venice, winning the special jury prize, and has since played Toronto, San Sebastian and the BFI London Film Festival.

In the best film category, they will go up against Yoko Yamanaka’s Desert Of Namibia from Japan; Neo Sora’s Japan-US feature Happyend; and To Kill A Mongolian Horse by Mongolian director Xiaoxuan Jiang.

Four of the five features nominated for best film are from female directors, and in an APSA first, all are first or second features.

For the first time since it was introduced, the ungendered best performance category comprises five women. They are India’s Kani Kusruti for All We Imagine As Light, Georgia’s Ia Sukhitashvili for April, Japan’s Yuumi Kawai for Desert Of Namibia, Kazakh performer Madina Akylbekova for Madina and Iranian Soheila Golestani for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.

Tracey Vieira, chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, said: “In 2024, two thirds of our nominated films are debut or second films, representing the cinematic excellence of the next generation of Asia Pacific voices, and the unique and compelling stories they are choosing to tell.”

Also to be announced during the ceremony are the four recipients of the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund grants of $25,000, supported by the MPA (Motion Picture Association) Asia Pacific.

The awards take place at the end of the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Forum, set to take place from November 27-30.

17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominations

Best Film

All We Imagine As Light (Fr-India-Neth-Lux)
April (Geo-It-Fr)
Desert of Namibia (Japan)
Happyend (Japan-US)
To Kill A Mongolian Horse (Malay-HK-S Kor-Japan-Saudi-Thai-US)

Best Youth Film

Boong (India)
Magic Beach (Australia)
She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones (China)
Sunshine (Phil)
The Mountain (NZ)

Best Animated Film

Ghost Cat Anzu (Japan-Fr)
Memoir Of A Snail (Australia)
Pig That Survived Foot-And-Mouth Disease (S Kor)
The Colors Within (Japan)
The Missing (Phil)

Best Documentary Film

Breaking The Cycle (Thai)
Kamay (Afg-Bel-Fr-Ger)
No Other Land (Pal-Nor)
XiXi (Tai-Phil-S Kor)
Youth (Homecoming) (Fr-Lux-Neth)

Best Director 

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine As Light
Dea Kulumbegashvili, April
Tato Kotetishvili, Holy Electricity
Rithy Panh, Meeting With Pol Pot
Xiaoxuan Jiang, To Kill A Mongolian Horse

Best Screenplay 

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine As Light
Dea Kulumbegashvili, April
Neo Sora, Happyend
Selman Nacar, Hesitation Wound
PS Vinothraj, The Adamant Girl

Best Cinematography 

Ranabir Das, All We Imagine As Light
Arseni Khachaturan, April
Michaël Capron, Mongrel
Hideho Urata, Stranger Eyes
Son Doan, Viet And Nam

Best Performance 

Kani Kusruti, All We Imagine As Light
Ia Sukhitashvili, April
Yuumi Kawai, Desert Of Namibia
Madina Akylbekova, Madina
Soheila Golestani, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

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