2013 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund Recipient

Turkish filmmaker Reis Çelik studied music and theatre at the State Conservatoire. He worked as a political correspondent and photojournalist, later moving into documentaries, commercials and political campaign films. His film, Night of Silence (2012), was the recipient of the Generation 14plus Crystal Bear at Berlinale. It was also nominated for an APSA for Achievement in Directing, and won the APSA for Best Screenplay, for which he was inducted into the APSA Academy. He was a development grant recipient for his project Karbala Orchestra.

“Karbala Orchestra is a lively and irreverent encounter between East and West through music, set in Iraq during the Gulf War. A symphony orchestra, sent from Germany to the war zone to cultivate economic interests, unwittingly becomes an agent of peace and goodwill.”

Ainsley Gardiner has produced shorts, feature films and television shows. In 2004 she established Whenua Films with actor Cliff Curtis, to promote indigenous story-telling on screen. After working on two award-winning shorts with Taika Waititi, she co-produced his first two features, Eagle vs Shark and breakout hit Boy – which was nominated for an APSA for Best Children’s Feature Film in 2010, and resulted in her being inducted into the APSA Academy. She was a development grant recipient for her feature film project Canoe.

“From New Zealand, Canoe is an evocation of a Maori legend blended with a personal story of survival, offering great potential for a visually rich and emotionally powerful drama.”

President, iFilm Connections: Asia & Pacific; President, Te Maka Productions, Inc.; President NETPAC/USA; Founding Director, Hawaii International Film Festival. Jeannette Paulson Hereniko was a member of the inaugural APSA International Nominations Council and was subsequently inducted into the APSA Academy. She has participated on the Nominations Council in multiple years. She was a development grant recipient for her project Fall Out, which she is attached to produce.

“A strong multi-layered story laced with unexpected humour, Fall Out is about the effect, past and present, of American nuclear tests on a small dislocated community in the Marshall Islands.  Written by Hawaii-based Fijian director, Vilsoni Hereniko”

Indonesian master filmmaker, Garin Nugroho, was inducted into the APSA Academy for his film Opera Jawa that was nominated for an APSA for Best Feature Film in 2007. He later won an APSA for Best Children’s Feature Film for producing The Mirror Never Lies (2012). He was a development grant recipient for his project Memories Of My Body, which will have its World Premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice International Film Festival, 2018.

“Memories Of My Body follows a dancer from his childhood to his late twenties. Abandoned by his father as child, he joins a Lengger dance centre where men shape their feminine appearance and movement, but the sensuality of the dance, combined with the violent social and political climate in Indonesia, force him to move from village to village.”