Mostafa Sarwar Farooki has been named as a member of the jury that decides the prizes for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).
Kim Dong-ho, co-founder and former chairman of the Busan Film Festival, will head the jury while the “Ant Story” director will be added to the jury with Chinese academic Zhang Xianmin, Malaysian filmmaker U-Wei Bin Hajisaari, Russian writer-director Alexei Popogrebsky and Iranian actress Negar Javaherian, reports Variety.
“Truth is, I am scared and happy at the same time, being invited to sit on the jury seat which has been previously filled by people like Asghar Farhadi, Shyam Benegal, Jafar Panahi, Shabana Azmi and David Puttnam,” shared Farooki via Facebook. “Judging the best films from the Asia Pacific region is a tough job and, in last couple of years, it turned even tougher.”
“Feeling great to represent my country to such an international cultural initiative,” he added.
Kim and Farooki were in attendance on Sunday at a ceremony in Busan, to announce the APSA jurors and nominations for the APSA UNESCO Award, which is presented annually for outstanding contributions to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity.
The nominees are China’s Zhang Miaoyan for A Corner of Heaven (Tiantang Jiaoluo); Russia’s Ella Manzheeva for The Gulls, Turkey’s Senem Tuzen for Motherland, Palestine’s Hany Abu-Assad for The Idol, and Australia’s Stephen Page for Spear.
The 9th Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony will be held in Brisbane, Australia on November 26.
