The 5th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) awarded Best Animated Feature Film to Korea’s <Leafie>. A High Commendation in the Best Screenplay category was also awarded to YOON Sung-hyun for <Bleak Night>.
The award ceremony was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia on Thursday, Nov. 23. International Jury President Nansun SHI attended along with more than 550 Australian and international guests including filmmakers from all 19 countries and territories represented in the Awards nominations.
Best Feature Film Award winner Asghar FARHADI, who wrote, produced and directed the Iranian film A Separation,was also on hand to pick up his award.
An initiative of the Queensland Government, Australia through Events Queensland, in collaboration with UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations,
APSA acclaims films from 70 countries and areas. Films are judged on cinematic excellence and the way in which they attest to their cultural origins.
Best Animated Feature Film was given to LEE Eun, Jaime SHIM, and Kim Sun-ku for Korea’s <Leafie>. The animation was directed by OH Seong-yun and written by KIM Eun-jung and NA Hyun.
The film became a watershed local hit earlier this year as the highest grossing Korean animation ever. <Leafie> has also been selling around the world, with international sales company Finecut most recently announcing deals to German-speaking territories, Brazil, Portugal, Turkey, the Middle East, Indonesia, and ex-USSR excluding Baltic States.
Yoon Sung-hyun’s <Bleak Night> previously won the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival in 2010 and went on to the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) Tiger Awards Competition as well as a slew of other festivals. The film was a graduate film from the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) and its international sales are thus handled by CJ E&M.
Nov. 25, 2011