MUMBAI: October 4, 2007: Nominees in the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the region's highest accolade in film in 2007, were announced at a gala event in Singapore.

Feature films in contention for Best Feature Film are CARAMEL (Lebanon), NIGHT BUS (AUTOBUS-E SHAB) (Iran), OPERA JAWA (Indonesia), SECRET SUNSHINE (MIRYANG) (Republic of Korea) and TAKVA: A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD (Turkey).

Feroz Abbas Khan's GANDHI, MY FATHER nominated for Asia Pacific Screen Awards

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is a collaboration between CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF- the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. The Awards honour the works of filmmakers across a region covering more than 70 countries, one third of the earth and half the world's film output.

The finalists are drawn from all over the Asia-Pacific region with 34 films nominated from 19 countries: Armenia, Australia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Asia Pacific Screen Awards Chairman, Des Power, said: "It is remarkable that the Awards in their first year have drawn entries from so many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Clearly filmmakers and the industry value the purpose and benefit of these Awards and the global broadcast platform of CNN International.

"I congratulate the nominees in the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards. They represent the extraordinary creativity and energy of filmmakers across the Asia-Pacific region and the range and quality of their films undoubtedly reflects the aims of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to celebrate both cinematic excellence and cultural diversity."

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards will be presented at an Awards ceremony on the Gold Coast, Australia, on November 13, 2007, following deliberation by a distinguished International Jury headed by Indian actress and humanitarian, Shabana Azmi.

The full list of nominees follows.

The nominees in the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards are:

Best Feature Film
CARAMEL (Lebanon) Produced by Anne Dominique Toussaint
NIGHT BUS (AUTOBUS-E SHAB) (Iran) Produced by Mehdi Homayounfar
OPERA JAWA (Indonesia) Produced by Garin Nugroho and Simon Field
SECRET SUNSHINE (MIRYANG) (Republic of Korea) Produced by In-Soo Kim, Chang-Dong Lee and Hanna Lee
TAKVA: A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD (Turkey) Produced by Sevil Demirci Cakar

Best Animated Feature Film
THE BIG FIGHTING BETWEEN WUKONG AND GOD ERLANG (WUKONG DA ZHAN ER LANG SHEN) (China) Produced by Hansen Liang and Meiling Zhou
5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND (BYOSOKU 5 CENTIMETERS) (Japan) Produced by Horitaka Kawaguchi
SUMMER DAYS WITH COO (KAPPA NO COO TO NATSUYASUMI) (Japan) Produced by Yutaka Sugiyama

Best Documentary Feature Film
BEIRUT DIARIES: TRUTH, LIES AND VIDEOS (YAOUMIYAT BEIRUT: HAKAEK WA AKATHEEB) (Lebanon) Produced by Mai Masri and Jean Chamoun
A GREAT MASTER RECAPTURED (YOU JIAN MEI LAN FANG) (China) Produced by Feng Gao
THE LOST LAND (SARZAMINE GOMSHODEH) (Iran) Produced by Documentary and Experimental Film Centre and TOUBA Film
A STORY OF PEOPLE IN WAR AND PEACE (Armenia) Produced by Vardan Hovhannisyan
VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW (APA KHABAR ORANG KAMPUNG) (Malaysia) Produced by Tan Chui Mui

Best Children's Feature Film
THE BICYCLE (GULONG) (Philippines) Produced by Menardo Jimenez and Socorro Fernandez
DENIAS, SINGING ON THE CLOUD (DENIAS, SENANDUNG DI ATAS AWAN) (Indonesia) Produced by Ari Sihasale
LOCKSMITH (GHOFL-SAZ) (Iran) Produced by Hassan Agha-Karimi
MOTHER NANNY (INANG YAYA) (Philippines) Produced by Antonio Gloria
MUKHSIN (Malaysia) Produced by Puad Onah

Achievement in Directing
Nadine Labaki for CARAMEL (Lebanon)
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab for MAINLINE (KHOONBAZI) (Iran)
Shawkat Amin Korki for CROSSING THE DUST (PARINAWA LA GHOBAR) (Iraq/Kurdistan)
Tao Peng for LITTLE MOTH (XUE CHAN) (China)
Zhanna Issabayeva for KAROY (Kazakhstan)

Best Screenplay
Feroz Abbas Khan for GANDHI, MY FATHER (India)
Michael James Rowland and Helen Barnes for LUCKY MILES (Australia)
Kiumars Pourahmad and Habib Ahmadzadeh for NIGHT BUS (AUTOBUS-E SHAB) (Iran)
Chang-Dong Lee for SECRET SUNSHINE (MIRYANG) (Republic of Korea)
Onder Cakar for TAKVA: A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD (Turkey)

Achievement in Cinematography
Yu Wang for THE GO MASTER (WU QINGYUAN) (China)
Trofimov R G C Sergey for MONGOL (Russian Federation)
Palitha Perera for SANKARA (Sri Lanka)
Zhao Fei, Mark Ping-bin Lee and Yang Tao for THE SUN ALSO RISES (China)
Hooman Behmanesh for THOSE THREE (AN SEH) (Iran)

Best Performance by an Actress
Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Siham Haddad & Asiza Semaan in CARAMEL (Lebanon)
Hanan Turk in CUT AND PASTE (KAS WA LAZK) (Egypt)
Joan Chen in THE HOME SONG STORIES (Australia)
Baran Kosari in MAINLINE (KHOONBAZI) (Iran)
Do-Yeon Jeon in SECRET SUNSHINE (MIRYANG) (Republic of Korea)

Best Performance by an Actor
Sasson Gabai in THE BAND'S VISIT (BIKUR HATIZMORET) (Israel)
Antropov Evgeniy in HARD-HEARTED (KREMEN) (Russian Federation)
Deok-Hwan Ryu in LIKE A VIRGIN (CHEON HA JANG SA MADONNA) (Republic of Korea)
Mehrdad Sedighian in NIGHT BUS (AUTOBUS-E SHAB) (Iran)
Erkan Can in TAKVA: A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD (Turkey)

Two additional major Awards will be presented for outstanding achievement: The FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region.
The UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is producing television programs attached to the inaugural 2007 Awards for global broadcast on CNN International.

The programs, titled Scene By Scene, will carry stories and interviews about the region's film industry. Scene By Scene - Films of Asia Pacific will screen on CNN International on November 10 prior to the Awards ceremony on November 13. The second program, Scene By Scene - Best Films of Asia Pacific, will include the Awards ceremony and will air on November 17.

FIAPF - The International Federation of Film Producers Associations has endorsed the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Charter.

The Director General of UNESCO has given his formal endorsement for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be conducted under the auspices of UNESCO.

KEY DATES:

31 August 2006
Eligible films must be completed after this date

12 September 2007
Deadline for entries. Screen Credits Forms and accompanying films must be lodged and postmarked on or before this date by Submitting Organisations in each country

24 - 28 September 2007
Nominations Council meet to decide nominations in the first nine categories. Announcements will be made early October.

31 October 2007
Eligible films must have achieved theatrical release or presentation at a FIAPF accredited festival anywhere in the world by this date

13 November 2007
Winners announced at the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony.