BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

• ★ “All That Breathes” (India, US, UK)
• “Blue Island” (Hong Kong, Japan)
• “Children of the Mist” (Vietnam)
• “Delikado” (Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, USUK)
• “Woodgirls – A duet for a dream” (Iran, Czech Republic)

anything that breathes, a documentary about Indian siblings rescuing injured birds, is getting a lot of attention. After debuting with a Jury Prize at Cannes, it was named an IDA finalist and also made the DOC NYC shortlist, which often leads to buzz at the Oscars. Unfortunately, HBO doesn’t show it until 2023. They haven’t announced a date yet, so we’re guessing they’ll wait and see their Oscar prospects (sigh).

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kamila Andini for “Before, Now & Then” (“Nana”)
• Shin Su-won for “Tribute” (aka “Omaju”) (Korea)
• ★ Davy Chou for “Return to Seoul”
• Ameer Fakher Eldin for “The Stranger” (aka “Al Garib”) (Palestine, Syria, Qatar, Germany)
• Lav Diaz for “When The Waves Are Gone” (Philippines)

Return to Seoul, which is about an adopted French woman traveling to Korea to search for her biological parents, is Cambodia’s entry to the Oscars this year. Davy Chou, the director, is Franco-Cambodian. This is his second feature film after Diamond Island (2016). He also produced Cambodia’s excellent bid for the Oscars last year, white building (2021).

BEST SCENARIO

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

• ★ Makbul Mubarak for “Autobiography” (Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Qatar, France, Poland, Germany)
• Vahid Jalilvand for “Beyond the Wall” (aka “Shab, Dkheli, Divar”) (Iran)
• Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-kyeong for “Decision to Leave” (aka “Heojil kyolshim”) (Korea)
• Darezhan Omirbayev for “Poet” (aka “Akyn”) (Kazakhstan)
• Aktan Arym Kubat, Dalmira Tilepbergenova for “That’s What I Remember” (aka “Esimde”) (Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Netherlands, France).

A good year for Indonesia at APSA. The autobiography is a thriller about a cleaner for a politician. It premiered in Venice this year.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Batara Goempar for “Before, Now & Then” (Indonesia)
• Lv Songye for “One and Four” (aka “Yige he Sige”) (China)
• Boris Troshev for “Poet” (Kazakhstan)
• Florent Herry for “Snow and the Bear” (aka “Kar ve Ay?”) (Turkey, Germany, Serbia)
• ★ Niklas Lindschau for “The Stranger” (Syria, Germany, Palestinian Territories, Qatar)

the stranger was Palestine’s Oscar submission last year. It’s a drama about an unlicensed doctor in the Golan Heights and a wounded soldier he encounters. This is a first film for Ameer Fakher Eldin who is based in Germany but was born in Ukraine to Syrian parents.

BEST PERFORMANCE

Lee Jeong-eun stars in “OMAJU”

• Happy Salma for “Before, Now and Then”
• Navid Mohammadzadeh for “Beyond the Wall”
• ★ Lee Jeong-eun for “Tribute” (also known as Omaju)
• Aktan Arym Kubat for “That’s What I Remember”
• John Lloyd Cruz for “When The Waves Are Gone”

Yes, it’s the same Lee Jeong-eun who was so excellent in Parasite (2019) as a maid/cook whom the protagonists conspire to get the wealthy couple out of employment. In this film, she plays a filmmaker who decides to restore an old film when she has no job of her own.

OTHER NON-COMPETITIVE PRICES

BEST NEW PERFORMANCE

• ★ Park Ji-Min for “Return to Seoul”

FIAPF PRIZE 2022

AWARD FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY UNDER THE PATROL OF UNESCO

• ★ Muru (New Zealand) dir. Tearepa Kahi.

YOUNG CINEMA PRIZE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NETPAC AND GFS

Saim Sadiq (via Instagram, left) and a memorable photo from his feature debut “Joyland” (right)

• ★ Saim Sadiq for “Joyland” (Pakistan)