Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films by women directors, Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “April” lead the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Both films will compete in five categories – best film, best director, best screenplay, best cinematography and best performance – it was revealed Wednesday in a nominations announcement.
Also competing for best film are Yoko Yamanaka’s Tokyo-set story of a young woman’s mental illness, “Desert of Namibia” (Japan); Neo Sora’s future Tokyo tale of perilous social surveillance “Happyend” (Japan, U.S.); and Jiang Xiaoxuan’s “To Kill a Mongolian Horse” (Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, U.S.), a portrait of a Mongolian horseman turned performer, based on a true story.
Four of the five films nominated for best film are from female directors, and in an APSA first, all five best film contenders are first or second features.
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