Prominent Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya received a special mention at the 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) for her role in ‘Avalanche’, Iran’s only entry at the event.
Winners of different categories from Australia, Russia, Turkey, China, Japan and South Korea were awarded at a ceremony on Thursday, at City Hall in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Honaronline reported.
Competing with four others from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Russia for the Best Performance by an Actress award, she got the special mention while Japanese actress Kirin Kiki won the award for playing in ‘An’ a joint production by Japan, France and Germany.
A trophy was presented to Motamed-Arya by Negar Javaherian, another celebrated Iranian actress who was in the international jury.
Director Morteza Farshbaf’s second feature film, ‘Avalanche’ was premiered at the 20th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, last month.
The film is the story of a nurse, Homa, played by Motamed-Arya, who offers to take care of an old woman in her night shift. During the 15 nights, Homa suffers from insomnia.
Motamed-Arya, 54, is a nine-time nominee for the best actress award at the Fajr International Film Festival and has won the Crystal Simorgh four times. She played the lead character in ‘Nabaat’, Azerbaijan’s nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film in the 2014 Academy Awards.
Javaherian, 32, was the star of the film ‘The Painting Pool’ which won the APSA UNESCO Award in 2013. She was awarded the Silver Astor Award for Best Actress in the 29th Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Argentina, in 2014.
Established in 2007, APSA recognizes and promotes the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Asia Pacific region, covering 70 countries and 4.5 billion people, and produces half of the world’s films. It aims at building a greater understanding of diversity across cultures.
