Four script development grants totalling $US100,000 to filmmakers from the Asia Pacific region were recently announced at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The grants are the first to be offered by the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, a new initiative of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) which is available exclusively to APSA Academy members.
Four filmmakers will each receive $US25,000 to be allocated to the script development of new feature film projects. The recipients of the inaugural MPA APSA Academy Film Fund are: Korean writer/director Lee Chang-dong, for Memories of Blue Hill Club (Memories of Chung-gu Hoe). Lee Chang-don's previous films include the APSA and Cannes Film Festival prize winners Secret Sunshine (Miryang) and Poetry (Shi). Also a recipient was Peng Tao, from the People's Republic of China, for Straw Man (Dao Cao Ren). Peng Tao's previous film Little Moth (Xue Chan) was nominated for an APSA in 2007 for Best Achievement in Directing. Then there was Asghar Farhadi (Islamic Republic of Iran) for Nadar and Simin: A Separation. Asghar Farhadi's film About Elly (Darbareye Elly) won last year's APSA for Best Screenplay and the Jury Grand Prize. Last was Sergey Dvortsevoy, from Kazakhstan, for Ayka (A???). Sergey, who is based in Russia, is a member of the APSA 2010 International Jury and writer/director of the APSA Best Feature Film in 2008, Tulpan.
More than 87 submissions from across Asia-Pacific were received for the inaugural MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Submissions were assessed by an industry panel of three, headed by Ronin Films Managing Director and former APSA International Jury member Andrew Pike