Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April scored a double win at the 17th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), taking home prizes for best film and best performance for Ia Sukhitashvili.
The Georgian feature centres on a skilled obstetrician at a maternity hospital, who comes under scrutiny after a tragic episode, threatening her secret side job providing unsanctioned abortions. The film premiered at Venice where it won the special jury prize and went on to play Toronto and San Sebastian, winning best film in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition at the latter. Metrograph Pictures picked up North American rights last month.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Sukhitashvili was at the ceremony on Saturday (November 30) at The Langham on Australia’s Gold Coast to accept both awards.
April marks the second feature for Kulumbegashvili, who was a recipient of an MPA APSA Academy Film Fund grant for early development of the film, which counts Luca Guadagnino among its producers.
The jury grand prize went to Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which follows two nurses in nocturnal Mumbai. The film was the first Indian feature to be selected in Competition at Cannes in 30 years where it won the festival’s Grand Prix.
A further APSA winner from India was Boong, the debut feature of Lakshmipriya Devi, which won best youth film. The story of a schoolboy who goes on a journey to reunite his family premiered at Toronto.
Alongside April, Georgia picked up a further two awards. Tato Kotetishvili was named best director for Holy Electricity, which sees cousins selling neon crucifixes door to door in Tbilisi, while Data Chachua won best new performer for Panopticon, which also stars Sukhitashvili.
The APSA for best animated film went to The Missing, a Filipino adult sci-fi animation by director Carl Joseph Papa, who accepted the award on the night. Best documentary film was won by No Other Land, directed as a group by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham who provide their perspective on the violence and destruction surrounding them.
Also announced during ceremony were the four recipients of APSA’s US$25,000 development grants, which included Indonesian feature Watch It Burn by Autobiography writer/director Makbul Mubarak.
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2024 winners
Best Film
April (Geo-It-Fr)
Jury Grand Prize
All We Imagine As Light (Fr-It-Neth-Lux)
Best Youth Film
Boong (India)
Best Animated Film
The Missing (Phil)
Best Documentary Film
No Other Land (Pal-Nor)
Best Director
Tato Kotetishvili for Holy Electricity (Geo-Neth)
Best Screenplay
Selman Nacar for Hesitation Wound (Turk-Sp-Rom-Fr)
Best Cinematography
Michaël Capron for Mongrel (Tai-Sing-Fr)
Best Performance
Ia Sukhitashvili for April (Geo-It-Fr)
Best New Performer
Data Chachua for Panopticon (Geo-Fr-It-Rom)
Cultural Diversity Award
Shambhala (Nep-Fr-Nor-HK-Turk-Tai-US-Qatar)
Young Cinema Award
Neo Sora for Happyend (Japan-US)
FIAPF Award
Cliff Curtis (NZ)
2024 MPA APSA Film Fund Recipients
- Outside Kabul, animated documentary, prod. Estelle Fialon (Fr)
- Watch It Burn, fiction feature, prod. Yulia Evina Bhara (Indo) and prod/dir. Makbul Mubarak
- Fuxi: Joy In Four Chapters, fiction feature, cin. Robbin Yuchao Feng (China) and dir. Jiongjiong Qiu
- A Trip To Australia, fiction feature, prod. Aiko Masubuchi (Japan-US) and prod/scr/dir. Neo Sora
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