Anurag Kashyap. Credit: PTI/AP
Several Indian names have found their way into the list of nominees at the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be held in Brisbane, Australia, on November 24.
Anurag Kashyap-directed Psycho Raman has received three nominations. Kashyap has been nominated in the ‘Achievement in Directing’ category, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been nominated for ‘Best Performance by an Actor’ and Jay Oza for ‘Achievement in Cinematography’.
Kashyap has won an APSA before – the ‘Special Jury Prize’ for Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012. A film he produced, Lunchbox, won the ‘Grand Jury Prize’ in 2013.
Leena Yadav’s Parched, which was released last month and received critical acclaim in India, is nominated in the ‘Best Screenplay’ category. Parched‘s screenplay was written by Yadav and Supratik Sen. Gurvinder Singh and Waryam Singh Sandhu have also been nominated in the same category for the Punjabi film Chauthi Koot or The Fourth Direction.
The Asia-Pacific region, comprising 70 countries and 4.5 billion people, is responsible for half of the world’s film output today, an APSA statement announcing the nominations said.
Five films are vying for the ‘Best Feature Film’ award this year – Mustafa Kara’s Cold of Kalandar, Reza Mirkarimi’s Daughter, Zeki Demirkubuz’s Ember, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student and Majid Majidi’s Muhammad: the Messenger of God.
The nominations aren’t the only Indian connection at the APSA this year. Celebrated filmmaker Shyam Benegal is on the international jury, along with David Puttnam from the UK, Kim Dong-Ho from South Korea, Nansun Shi from Hong Kong and Jan Chapman from Australia.