“Cemetery of Splendour” named best film at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - “Cemetery of Splendour”, by Thailand’s auteur champion Apichatpong Weerasethakul, was named as the best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Variety reports.

The film is a dreamy rumination on matters political and personal. It takes the form of a story involving the bonding between a hospital worker and a soldier with a mysterious infection. “Splendour,” which relied heavily on European production finance, had its premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival in May.

The APSA prizes were handed out on Thursday evening at a ceremony in Brisbane, Australia. The ceremony opened with a tribute to Paris, home of APSA partner UNESCO, and site of the recent terror attacks. “We are greatly moved by your resolve and your strength,” said Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, acting as ceremony co-host.

They were selected by a jury headed by Kim Dong-ho, co-founder of the Busan film festival, and also including Iranian actress Negar Javaherian, Bangladeshi writer/director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Chinese film maker and Beijing Film Academy professor, Zhang Xianmin, Malaysian film maker U-Wei Bin Haji Saari, and Russian writer/director Alexei Popogrebsky.

The awards recognise and promote cinematic excellence and cultural diversity in the world’s fastest-growing film region. Using a UNESCO definition, the region comprises 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people. It is responsible for half of the world’s film output.

The APSA UNESCO Award for cultural diversity through film went to Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad for “The Idol,” a film inspired by the true story of 2013 “Arab Idol” winner Mohammed Assaf, who has since become and ambassador for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The best directing prize went to Russia’s Alexey German Jr for “Under Electric Clouds.” Turkey’s writer/director Senem Tuezen won the screenplay award for “Motherland.”

Much decorated director of photography Mark Lee Ping-bing won the cinematography award. It was the only prize for “The Assassin,” the Hou Hsiao-hsien-directed art house martial arts drama that last weekend swept the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.