Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly and Chinese filmmaker Lu Chuan’s City Of Life And Death scored the most nominations for the 2009 Asia Pacific Film Awards (APSAs), with four and three nods respectively.

Both films were nominated for best film and also best director.

In terms of countries, Japan has the highest number of nominations in the awards, although China is snapping on its neighbour’s heels with six and India, Iran, Russia and Korea have five each.

The other best feature nominees are Forever Enthralled, also from China, The Time That Remains, a co-production set in Palestine, and Samson And Delilah, from Australia. It is the first time an Australian film has been named in this category and today it was also revealed that the drama is the front-runner in this year’s Inside Film Awards with nominations in eight categories.

Two films from Japan, The Sky Crawlers and Summer Wars, are nominated for the APSA for best animated feature, and a third nominee, the co-production First Squad: The Moment of Truth, was made with the involvement of Japan. Each of the five nominees in the children’s feature category comes from a different country.

There are 37 films representing 16 countries, including first-timers Thailand and Cambodia, among the APSA nominees. They were selected from 212 entries from 43 countries.

The winners, judged on cinematic excellence and cultural merit, will be announced on November 26 during a presentation on Australia’s Gold Coast. This is the third year that the awards have been staged.

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:

BEST FEATURE

About Elly, Islamic Republic of Iran, producers Asghar Farhadi, Mahmoud Razavi.

City Of Life And Death, People’s Republic of China, Han Sanping, Qin Hong, Zhou Li, John Chong, Andy Zhang.

Forever Enthralled, People’s Republic of China, Han Sanping, Du Jiayi.

Samson & Delilah, Australia, Kath Shelper.

The Time That Remains, Palestinian Territories/France/Italy/Belgium/UK, producers Hani Farsi, Elia Suleiman, co-producer Avi Kleinberger.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

First Squad: The Moment Of Truth, Russian Federation/Japan/Canada, producers Eiko Tanaka, Misha Sprits, Aljosha Klimov.

Mary And Max, Australia, Melanie Coombs.

The Sky Crawlers, Japan,Tomohiko Ishii.

Summer Wars, Japan, producers Nozomu Takahashi, Takuya Ito, Takashi Watanabe, co-producer Yuichiro Saito.

The Tale Of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow, Russian Federation, Alexander Boyarsky, Sergey Selyanov.

BEST CHILDREN’S FEATURE

The Bogeyman, Turkey, producer Atalay Taşdiken.

A Brand New Life, South Korea/France, Lee Chang-dong, Laurent Lavole, Lee Joon-dong.

Pesantren: 3 Wishes 3 Loves, Indonesia, Na nAchnas, Nurman Hakim, Adiyanto Sumarjono.

The Strength Of Water, New Zealand/Germany, producer Fiona Copland, co-producers Karl Baumgartner, Raimond Goebel.

Tahaan: A Boy With A Grenade, India, Shripal Morakhia, Mubina Rattonsey.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Citizen Juling, Thailand, producers Ing K, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Kraisak Choonhavan.

Defamation, Israel/Austria/Denmark/USA, Knut Ogris, Karoline Leth, Sandra Itkoff, Philippa Kowarsky.

Gandhi’s Children, Australia,David MacDougall.

The Main Thing Is To Stay Alive, Cambodia/France, producers Gerard Lacroix, Leslie F. Grunberg, Gerard Pont, co-producers Rosane Chan, Antoine Martin.

Mental, Japan/USA, Kazuhiro Soda.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Asghar Farhadi, About Elly, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Vimukthi Jayasundara, Between Two Worlds, Sri Lanka/France.

Lu Chuan, City of Life And Death, People’s Republic of China.

Anurag Kashyap., Dev.D,India.

Sion Sono, Love Exposure, Japan.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Asghar Farhadi, About Elly, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Kundo Koyama, Departures, Japan.

Baek Seung-bin, Members Of The Funeral, Republic of Korea.

Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo, Mother, Republic of Korea.

Yogesh Vinayak Joshi, Upendra Sidhaye, Mumbai My Life,India.

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Uruphong Raksasad, Agrarian Utopia, Thailand.

Cao Yu, City Of Life And Death, People’s Republic ofChina.

Ali Mohammad Ghasemi, A Light In The Fog, Islamic Republic ofIran.

Alisher Khamidhodjaev, Maxim Drozdov, Paper Soldier, Russian Federation.

Alexei Arsentiev, Wolfy, Russian Federation

BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTRESS

Golshifteh Farahani, About Elly, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Xun Zhou, The Equation Of Love And Death, People’s Republic of China (mainland China/Hong Kong).

Malini Fonseka, Flowers Of The Sky, Sri Lanka/India.

Kim Hye-ja, Mother, Republic of Korea.

Yana Troyanova, Wolfy, Russian Federation.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR

Masahiro Motoki, Departures, Japan.

Naseeruddin Shah, A Wednesday, India.

Mohamed Bakri, Laila’s Birthday, Palestinian Territories/Tunisia/Netherlands.

Yang Ik-june Breathless, Republic of Korea.

Ge You If You Are The One, People’s Republic of China (Mmainland China/Hong Kong).

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