Drive My Car

Source: The Match Factory

‘Drive My Car’

Cannes winners Drive My Car, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero lead the nominations at the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (Apsa) awards.

Drive My Car is Japan’s entry for the best international feature Oscar and the Cannes 2021 Competition best screenplay winner. It follows a theatre actor and director who is grappling with grief for his lost wife.

A Hero, which won the grand prix at Cannes, is a French-Iranian co-production which looks at what happens when an unlikely hero finds himself caught up in a social media storm.

Both films are up for the same four categories: best feature film, achievement in directing, best screenplay and best performance by an actor.

Winners will be announced on November 11 at the 14th Apsa ceremony, which will take place on Australia’s Gold Coast and streamed across the globe.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

Among the 25 Asia Pacific countries represented in the nominations are Afghanistan, Australia, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Qatar, South Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey and, for the first time, Vietnam.

Due to Covid-19, the eligibility of films in competition this year was extended back to the end of 2019. The winners will be determined by the Aspa International Jury, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Apsa ceremony on November 11 will also launch the 3rd Asia Pacific Screen Forum, a six-day industry-focused event which will take place both in-person and virtually.

Speakers lined up for the forum include Singapore filmmaker Yeo Siew Hua, who won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2018 with A Land Imagined; Paul Wiegard of Australia’s Madman Entertainment; Pearl Chan of Hong Kong-based Good Move Media; Alberto Alvarez Aguilera of Pyramide Films; and producers Nick Batzias (Nitram) and Meiske Taurisia (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash).

Apsa 2021 nominations

Best feature film

A Hero dir. Asghar Farhadi (Iran-Fr)
A Night Of Knowing Nothing dir. Payal Kapadia (India-Fr)
Drive My Car dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Jap)
The Pencil dir. Natalya Nazarova (Rus)
There Is No Evil dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran-Cze-Ger)

Best youth feature film

Brother’s Keeper dir. Ferit Karahan (Turkey-Rom)
Movin On dir. Yoon Dan-bi (S Kor)
Scales dir. Shahad Ameen (Iraq-UAE-Saudi)
Voices In The Wind dir. Nobuhiro Suwa (Jap)
When Pomegranates Howl dir. Granaz Moussavi (Afg-Australia-Iran-Neth)

Best animated feature film

Beauty Water dir. Cho Kyung-hun (S Kor)
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko dir. Ayumu Watanabe (Jap)
The Knight And The Princess dirs. Bashir El Deek, Ibrahim Mousa (Saudi-Egy)
The Nose Or The Conspiracy Of Mavericks dir. Andrey Khrzhanovsky (Rus)
Where Is Anne Frank dir. Ari Folman (Bel)

Best documentary feature film

Gorbachev. Heaven dir. Vitaly Mansky (Lat-Cze)
Miguel’s War dir. Eliane Raheb (Leb-Sp-Ger)
Sabaya dir. Hogir Hirori (Swe)
The Devil’s Drivers dirs. Mohammed Abugeth, Daniel Carsenty (Leb-Qat-Fr-Ger)
Writing With Fire dirs. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh (India)

Achievement in directing

Asghar Farhadi, A Hero (Iran-Fr)
Dea Kulumbegashvili, Beginning (Georgia-Fr)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car (Jap)
PS Vinothraj, Pebbles (India)
Kamila Andini, Yuni (Indo-Sing-Fr)

Best screenplay

Asghar Farhadi, A Hero (Iran-Fr)
Nasim Ahmadpour, Shahram Mokri, Careless Crime (Iran)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car (Jap)
Dana Idisis, Here We Are (Isr-It)
Asif Rustamov, Roelof Jan Minneboo, Ilgar Najaf, Sughra’s Sons (Azer-Fr-Ger)

Best actress

Alena Yiv, Asia (Isr)
Azmeri Haque Badhon, Rehana (Bang-Qat-Sing)
Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray, Scarecrow (Rus)
Leah Purcell, The Drover’s Wife (Australia)
Essie Davis, The Justice Of Bunny King (NZ)

Best actor

Amir Jadidi, A Hero (Iran-Fr)
Levan Tediashvili, Brighton 4th (Georgia-Rus-Bul-Mon-US)
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car (Jap)
Merab Ninidze, House Arrest (Rus)
Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram (Australia)

Achievement in cinematography

Feng Yuchao Robbin, A New Old Play (HK-Fr)
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Anatomy Of Time (Thai-Sing-Fr-Neth)
Vignesh Kumulai, Che Parthiban, Pebbles (India)
Nguyen Vinh Phuc, Taste (Viet-Sing-Fr-Thai-Ger)
Akiko Ashizawa, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (Indo-Sing-Ger)

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