Max Mannix is an acclaimed screenwriter and former professional Australian rugby player who co-wrote and co-directed Dance of the Dragon and more recently was the writer/director on Rain Fall starring Gary Oldman and Kippei Shiina. Kiyoshi Kurosawa was born on July 19, 1955 in Japan and started directing 8mm independent films while studying Sociology at Rikkyo University. In 1980, his first work Shigarami Gakuen screened at PIA Film Festival. Kurosawa then spent the next few years studying with directors Kazuhiko Hasegawa and Shinji Somai. In 1983, he made his commercial debut with the feature film Kandagawa Wars. Also nominated is Sachiko Tanaka, born in Tokyo in 1972 and a graduate of the Department of Aesthetics and Art History at Tokyo University of the Arts. Sachiko studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa at Tokyo University and this is her first feature film.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
