MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has announced the winners of the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards at a ceremony on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Over 500 film industry personalities from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the US attended the ceremony.
Films from India, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey and Israel received Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Scene By Scene - Best Films Of Asia Pacific airs on CNN on 17 November 2007 at 12:30 pm and 8:30 pm and on 18 November at 12:30 pm.
The awards were determined by an International Jury headed by Indian actress Shabana Azmi.
The best film award was won by Secret Sunshine from Korea. Jeon Do-yeon received the Best Performance by an Actress Award for her performance in the same film.
The best achievement in directing was awarded to Iranian directors Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab for the film Mainline.
Best screenplay was awarded to Feroz Abbas Khan for his screenplay for the Indian film Gandhi, My Father. Khan was on the Gold Coast to accept the Award.
Best children's film was Denias, Singing On The Cloud from Indonesia. The Award was accepted by producer Ari Sihasale.
Best animated film was won by 5 Centimeers Per Second from Japan. Producer Noritaka Kawaguchi accepted the Award.
Turkish actor Erkan Can won the Best Performance by an Actor Award for his performance in Takva.
Asia Pacific Screen Awards chairman Des Power thanked Azmi and her jury colleagues, founding Director of Korea's Pusan International Film Festival Kim Dong-ho, Iranian director Jafar Panahi, UK producer Nik Powell and Chinese filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang for their deliberations over the past week.
"I am very grateful to the members of the Jury. They have been extraordinarily dedicated to the challenging task of determining the Awards and I am inspired by their commitment to the aims of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to recognise cultural diversity and acclaim filmmaking excellence across the Asia-Pacific region.
"I congratulate the winners of the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards announced tonight who also inspire with their courage and creative brilliance."
