Georgian Filmmakers Triumph at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Young Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze’s Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda) (Georgian-Estonian co-production) won one of two of the Jury Grand Prizes at the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, held in Brisbane, Australia. The award ceremony took place on November 23, and Nata Murvanidze, Georgian actress who plays a leading role in the film, won the APSA for best performance. 'Scary Mother' has previously received a Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival last year, as well as a Sarajevo Film Festival Award for Best Feature film; and Georgia have nominated Scary Mother to participate in the selection for the upcoming Oscars. 

Another Georgian film Dede, (a co- production of Georgia, Croatia, Netherlands, Qatar, UK) directed by Mariam Khachvani, received the Cultural Diversity Award under the UNESCO patronage, as a recognition of an outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film. Mariam Khachvani’s Dede filmed in the region of Svaneti, Georgia, is to also be screened at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, on December 12, 2017, within the framework of the Intergovernmental Committee meeting on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. 

In addition, Georgian Production Company '20 Steps Production' is to receive a grant from APSA Academy Film Fund, to complete Vladimer Katcharava’s project; Nene, to be directed by Mariam Khachvani, and produced by Vladimer Katcharava. 

This is the first ever win for Georgia at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 

Best feature film award went to the Australian director Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country, while Indian film Newton won two Asia Pacific Awards, with the film’s star Rajkummar Rao winning best performance by an actor, and Tewari and Amit V Masurkar winning best screenplay award as writers. Iranian actor Navid Mohammadzadeh won the best performance by an actor for his performance in the film No date, No signature; and Russian Director Andrey Zvyagintsev won the achievement in directing his film Loveless. Acievement in cinematography was awarded to Russian Pyotr Duhovskoy, and Timofey Lobov for their Bottomless Bag. The second Jury Prize went to the Russian actor Aleksandr Yatsenko for the performance in the film Arrythmia.

By Nino Gugunishvili