A Separation, Anatolia win top Asian Pacific Screen Awards

Two Oscar foreign-language contenders, Iran's A Separation and Turkey's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, were the big winners at Thursday's Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which took place in Queensland, Australia.

A Separation, directed and written by Asghar Farhadi, was named Best Feature Film. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia won awards for Achievement in Directing and Achievement in Cinematography, as well as receiving the Screen International Jury Grand Prize.

The two winners are very different kinds of films, but both of them are the same in their excellence in every aspect of their filmmaking: from screenplay, to directing, to performances, to their technical craftsmanship such as cinematography and editing, everything, said APSA International Jury president Nansun Shi in a release announcing the winners.

Established in 2007, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards are an initiative of the government of Queensland, Australia, in collaboration with UNESCO and the International Federation of Film Producers. They are open to films from the Asia-Pacific region, an enormous area that stretches from Egypt to the Cook Islands, and from Russia to New Zealand.

Previous winners include China's Aftershock, Australia's Samson & Delilah and Kazakhstan's Tulpan.

The winners:

Best Feature Film: A Separation

Best Children's Feature Film: Buta; High Commendation: Wind and Fog

Best Animated Feature Film: Leafie

Best Documentary Feature Film: I Was Worth 50 Sheep; High Commendation: Pink Saris

Achievement in Directing: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Achievement in Cinematography: Gokhan Tiryaki, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia; High Commendation: Andrei Zviagintsev, For Elena

Best Screenplay: Denis Osokin, Silent Souls; High Commendation: Yoon Sung-Hyun, Bleak Night

Best Performance by an Actress: Nadezhda Markina, For Elena

Best Performance by an Actor: Wang Baoqiang, Mr. Tree

Screen International Grand Jury Prize: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia; High Commendation: Nahed El Sebai, Bushra and Nelly Karim, Cairo 678