2023 Youth, Animation, Documentary International Jury
Born in Myanmar, Midi Z arrived in Taiwan at the age of sixteen. He studied Design and Art before obtaining a master’s degree from the National Taiwan University of Technology and Science. In 2006, his graduation film, Paloma Blanca, was invited to several international film festivals such as Busan and Gothenburg. In 2011, Return to Burma, his debut feature, was nominated for the Busan New Currents and Rotterdam Tiger competitions. In 2014, Ice Poison won Best International Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival and represented Taiwan for Best Foreign Language Film in the Oscars. In 2016, The Road to Mandalay won the Best Feature Film FEDEORA Award at the Venice Film Festival. Midi’s latest feature, Nina Wu, was selected for Un Certain Regard at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
In addition, Midi has made three documentaries, including Jade Miners (2015), which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, City of Jade (2016) and 14 Apples (2018), which was invited to the 2018 Berlinale. Notably, City of Jade, which world premiered at the 2016 Berlinale, was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards as well as the Taipei Golden Horse Awards in 2016 and won the Special Mention award at the 2017 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
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Rima Das
Rima Das, a filmmaker from India, is known for making indigenous and realistic stories that explore complicated relationships, finding purpose, coming of age and life amidst nature. Her films Village Rockstars and Bulbul Can Sing premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and were screened at over 120 prestigious film festivals around the world, winning over 70 awards including National Film Awards in India. Village Rockstars was also India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2019. She has donned multiple hats of writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editor for her projects.
GQ India named Rima Das as one of the Most Influential Young Indians of 2018. She is also one of the Brand Ambassadors of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Share Her Journey campaign that champions the cause of gender equality in cinema. She has been on the jury of the Berlin International Film Festival Generation 14plus, the Mumbai International Film Festival, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Zlin Film Festival for Children & Youth.
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Hikaru Toda
Hikaru Toda is a director/producer and the founder of Little Stranger Films. Raised in the Netherlands, she holds master’s degrees in Visual Anthropology and Performance Making from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her debut feature documentary Of Love & Law (2017) won top awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival (2017) and the Hong Kong International Film Festival (2018) and was nominated for an Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Documentary Film (2018). She most recently directed and produced an episode of Netflix’s Original Documentary Series My Love: 6 Stories of True Love (2021), which won the International Documentary Association (IDA) award for Best Episodic series and is streaming in 190 countries.
View ProfileThe 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.