Nawazuddin Siddiqui wins Best Actor Ward at APSA for ‘Manto’
Brisbane, Australia: Nawazuddin Siddiqui was named Best Actor for his outstanding performance in Manto at the Asia Pacfic Screen Awards in Brisbane tonight. Siddiqui’s win marks the third consecutive year Indian actors have won in this category following Rajkummar Rao for Newton(2017) and Manoj Bajpayee for Aligarh (2016).
This was Siddiqui’s second APSA nomination after receiving a Special Mention in this category in 2016 for Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0, only just missing out to Bajpayee. At that time APSA Jury President Lord David Puttnam said the competition was so close between the actors, the International Jury had to award a Special Mention to Siddiqui.
In a filmed acceptance speech, Siddiqui said it was an absolute honour to be prized as the Best Actor at the prestigious APSA. “This is priceless” he said.
Manto director Nandita Das accepted the award, a unique hand-crafted glass trophy by Brisbane glass artist Joanna Bone on his behalf while composer Sneha Khanwalker, in Brisbane as part of the inaugural APSA Music in Film International Jury, was also cheering him on.
Earlier in the ceremony Nandita Das had been presented with the FIAPF Award for achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region. Ms Das becomes the 12th Asia Pacific screen icon, and second Indian to receive the award, which was also presented to Yash Chopra in 2008.
A Special Mention for Achievement in Directing went to Ivan Ayr for his direction of Soni (India), which premiered in Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival.
In a spread of awards representing the geographical and cultural diversity of the Asia Pacific region, APSAs went to films from Australia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore and Turkey.
The Awards, hosted by New Zealand movie star Cliff Curtis and popular Australian TV presenter Sofie Formica were held at Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre. Winners are presented with a unique hand-crafted glass trophy created by Brisbane-based glass artist Joanna Bone.
Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) was tonight named Best Feature Film and the Award was accepted by producer Taguchi Hijiri.
Winners in the feature fiction categories were determined by the APSA International Jury, comprised of Alexander Rodnyansky (Russian Federation), Nia Dinata (Indonesia), Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal), Vladimer Katcharava (Georgia) and Antonia Zegers (Chile).
The inaugural Best Original Score award went to the celebrated composers Hildur Guðnadóttir and the recently deceased Jóhann Jóhannsson forMary Magdalene (Australia, UK). The winner was determined by the Music in Film International Jury comprised of Jury Chair Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan), Sneha Khanwalkar (India) and Nigel Westlake (Australia).
Sakamoto said of the winning film “Mary Magdalene’s soundtrack is a meticulous work of art by the composers. The quality of craftsmanship and the depth of emotions are overwhelming.”
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the region’s highest accolade in film, honour cinematic excellence and the cultural diversity of the world’s fastest-growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world’s film output. In 2018, 46 films from 22 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region received APSA nominations, including the first nomination for a film from Uzbekistan.
During the Ceremony, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) announced the four recipients of the 9th round of the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, created to support, at script stage, new feature film projects originated by APSA Academy members and their colleagues across Asia Pacific. The fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually, and is wholly supported by the MPA. To date, 32 projects have now been funded, with many going into production and garnering success at film festivals around the world.
The four 2018 MPA APSA Film Fund recipients are:
Producer Ifa Isfansyah, directior Kamila Andini (Indonesia) for Yuni
Producer Olga Khlasheva, director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Kazakhstan) for Hell is Empty and All The Devils Are Here
Producer Mai Meksawan, director Uruphong Raksasad (Thailand) for Worship
Director, producer, screenwriter Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey) for Asli
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