Winner, Best Youth Feature Film, 2014
Set in a bleak village in rural eastern Anatolia, Sivas tells the story of Aslan, an eleven-year-old boy, and Sivas, a weathered fighting dog, who develop a strong relationship after Aslan finds Sivas wounded and left to die in a ditch. An outcast at school, Aslan fights and argues with his male classmates and loses the school play’s lead role of the prince to his rival Oslan. With his heart set on the ‘princess’ of the village, Aslan tries to impress her with his newfound friend. However, as Sivas’s success at the fighting ground attracts more attention from the village head, Aslan finds himself on an unexpected crash course into adulthood, leaving the princess behind.
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.
