’Scary Mother’, ’Dede’ earn honours at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Filmmakers and actors from Georgia have claimed three of the prizes at this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with Ana Urushadze, Nata Murvanidze and Mariam Khatchvani honoured in Brisbane, Australia earlier today.

Young director Urushadze’s debut feature Scary Mother earned the filmmaker the Jury Grand Prize of the 11th edition of the event.

The judges also singled out Nata Murvanidze’s appearance in the film as Best Performance by an Actress.

Filmmaker Ana Urushadze with the Grand Jury Prize for 'Scary Mother'. Photo: Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Rounding up the success of the Georgian selection for the Awards, Mariam Khatchvani’s feature Dede was bestowed with the Cultural Diversity Award, a prize granted under the patronage of UNESCO.

The three prizes were handed out by judges among 15 awards highlighting works by directors from countries the Awards were established to showcase.

The official ceremony celebrating the winners was held in Brisbane and broadcast live on the web.

Director Mariam Khatchvani (right) photographed with the Cultural Diversity Award for 'Dede'. Photo: Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Scary Mother and Dede were nominated for honours at the event last month, with Urushadze’s work sweeping two of the three nominations with its wins.

The Sarajevo Film Festival- and Locarno International Film Festival prize-winning feature was part of competition that also featured famed Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless and The Third Murder by Japan's Hirokazu Koreeda.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards was launched to recognise and promote "cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region".

Last year's awards saw Georgian director Rusudan Glurjidze's award-winning film House of Others nominated for the Achievement in Cinematography prize.