Three Nominations for Iran at Asia Pacific Awards

Three films from Iran, ‘No Date, No Signature’, ‘A Man of Integrity’ and ‘The Skier’ have earned nominations at the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), slated for November 23 in Australia.

Actor Navid Mohammadzadeh has been nominated by the jury panel in the category of the best performance by an actor for his role in the film ‘No Date, No Signature’ directed by Vahid Jalilvand; Mohammad Rasoulof’s acclaimed movie ‘A Man of Integrity’ is nominated for the best feature film award and ‘The Skier’, directed by Fereydoun Jafari, is nominated for the best youth feature film, cinematicket.org reported.

Established in 2007 in Brisbane, Australia, the APSA is endorsed by UNESCO and FIAPF – International Federation of Film Producers Associations. It recognizes and promotes cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Asia Pacific region. APSA takes the works of filmmakers across more than 70 countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region to new international audiences.

  Best Actor in Venice

‘No Date, No Signature’ premiered at the 35th Fajr Film Festival in February and won three awards including the best supporting actor for Mohammadzadeh. He also won the Horizons award for the best actor at the 74th Venice Film Festival in September.

Mohammadzadeh’s feature lead debut was in ‘I’m Not Angry!’ directed by Reza Dormishian’s (2014) which received his first APSA nomination.

  Cannes Winner

‘A Man of Integrity’ which is Rasoulof’s sixth feature film centers on Reza and his family who lead a simple life working on a goldfish farm in a northern Iranian village.

It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May where it won the main prize.

  Tribal Traditions

In the ‘The Skier’, a mountain goat is to be sacrificed for a traditional ceremony in a small village. However, a small boy decides to save the goat using the cash prize he earned from winning a ski race.

The road movie is an ethno-fictional film that colorfully documents rapidly vanishing tribal traditions, painting a portrait of the ethnic community of the Bakhtiari people of southwest Iran. The positive and determined central character is an example of an empowered young child.

In the past 10 editions of the APSA, Iran cinema had a strong presence among the nominations and was always among the award winners. Globally renowned filmmakers Asghar Farhadi and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya are among the Iranian winners in the previous rounds.

In the previous edition of APSA, in 2016, ‘Starless Dream’ by Mehrdad Oskouei won Best Documentary Feature Film award, while the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film in the Asia Pacific region was presented to Iranian producer Manoochehr Mohammadi.