Three (3) Australian films are nominated at the 7th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA). These are "The Turning" by Tim Winton, "Tracks" directed by John Curran and "Mystery Road" by Ivan Sen. Films from other countries like India, Palestine and Japan are also nominated. The APSA 2013 will be held at the Brisbane City Hall in Queensland, Australia on Dec. 12, 2013.

"The Turning" is written by Tim Winton and directed by 17 Australian directors including Marieka Walsh, Jonathan Auf Der Heide, Mia Wasikowska and Ian Meadows. It is a series of overlapping stories about the lives of ordinary people who live in a coastal community and who are linked to each other. It is based on Winton's novel with the same name. The stellar cast is led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving. "The Turning" is nominated for Best Feature Film at the 2013 APSA. Check out the Teaser Trailer below.

CREDIT: YouTube/Madman Films

"The Turning" is up against the films from "Omar" (Palestine), "Like Father, Like Son"/"Soshite chichi ni naru" (Japan), "Television" (Bangladesh), "With You, Without You" (Sri Lanka), and "The Past" (Asghar Farhadi's Iranian film for France and Italy).

Cinematographer Mandy Walker of "Tracks" is nominated in the Achievement in Cinematography category. It is based on a true story about the life of Robyn Davidson, who trekked to the Australian desert accompanied only by a dog and 4 camels. It stars Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver. Check out the film's trailer below.

CREDIT: YouTube/MOVIES Coming Soon

The other nominees for Achievement in Cinematography are Lu Yue for "Back to 1942"/"Yi Jiu Si Er" (People's Republic of China), Murat Aliyev for "The Old Man"/"Shal (Kazakhstan), Ehab Assal for "Omar" (Palestine), and Rajeev Ravi for "Monsoon Shootout" (India).

Meanwhile, Aaron Pedersen is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor for his portrayal in the film "Mystery Road." It is a murder mystery set in the Australian Outback. It also stars Hugo Weaving ("The Lord of the Rings," "Matrix") and Ryan Kwanten ("True Blood"). Check out its trailer below.

CREDIT: YouTube/sydfilmfest

The other actors nominated along with Pedersen are Adam Bakri for "Omar" (Palestine), Lee Byung-hun for "Masquerade" (Korea), Yerbolat Toguzakov for "The Old Man"/"Shal" (Kazakhstan) and Tatsuya Nakadai for "Japan's Tragedy"/"Nippon no higeki" (Japan).

Aside from these 3 Australian films, other Australians like producers Sarah Shaw and Anna McLeish are also nominated for the Best Children's Feature Film category for their film "Shopping" (New Zealand).

The 2013 APSA winners in the feature film categories will be chosen by an International Jury headed by director and screenwriter Shyam Benegal (India). The jury members include actor Tamer Levent (Turkey), screenwriter and director Kim Tae-yong (Korean), actress Hon Dr Malani Fonseka (Sri Lanka), director Christoph Schaub (Switzerland) and producer Albert Lee (Hong Kong).

The 7th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards is made possible by the support of Brisbane's City Council. Brisbane Marketing manages the said event in collaboration with the Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF) or the International Federation of Film Producers Associations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France. Below is the complete list of the nominees for the 2013 APSA.

THE FULL LIST OF 2013 APSA NOMINEES:

  • BEST FEATURE FILM

"Soshite chichi ni naru" ("Like Father, Like Son")
Japan
Produced by Matsuzaki Kaoru and Taguchi Hijiri

"Omar"
Palestine
Produced by Hany Abu-Assad, Waleed F. Zuaiter and David Gerson

"Le Passé" ("The Past")
France, Italy
Produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy

"Television"
Bangladesh
Produced by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and co-Produced by Mahboob Rahman

"The Turning"
Australia
Produced by Robert Connolly and Maggie Miles

"With You, Without You"
Sri Lanka
Produced by Lasantha Navarathna and Mohamed Adamaly

  • BEST CHILDREN'S FEATURE FILM

"Beom-joe So-nyeon" ("Juvenile Offender")
Republic of Korea
Produced by Park Joo-young

"Tabidachi no Shima Uta - Jugo no Haru" ("Leaving on the 15th Spring")
Japan
Produced by Yasuhiro Masaoka, Hiroshi Higa and Takeshi Sawa

"Shopping"
New Zealand
produced by Sarah Shaw and Anna McLeish

"Wadjda"
Saudi Arabia, Germany
produced by Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner and co-produced by Amr AlkahtanI

"Lamma Shoftak" ("When I Saw You")
Palestine, Jordan
Produced by Ossama Bawardi with co-producers by Rami Yasin, Sawsan Asfari, Maya Sanbar Jamo and Tariq Al Ghussein

  • BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

"The Act of Killing"
Denmark, Norway, UK
Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Joshua Oppenheimer, Michael Uwemedimo and anonymous Indonesian producers.
Co-Produced by Torstein Grude, Bjarte Mørner Tveit, Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn.

"Shomrei Hasaf" ("The Gatekeepers")
Israel, France, Germany, Belgium
Produced by Dror Moreh, Estelle Fialon and Phillipa Kowarsky and co-produced by Anna Van der Wee

"Menstrual Man"
Singapore, India
Produced by Amit Virmani and Seah Kui Luan

"Frihet Bakom Galler" ("No Burqas Behind Bars")
Sweden, Japan, Netherlands, Denmark
Produced by Maryam Ebrahimi

"Alam Laysa Lana" ("A World Not Ours")
Lebanon, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Palestine
Produced by Patrick Campbell and Mahdi Fleifel

  • BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

"Sa-i-bi" ("The Fake")
Republic of Korea
Produced by Cho Young-kag

"Koo! Kin-Dza-Dza"
Russian Federation
Produced by Sergey Selyanov, Leonid Yarmolnik, Yuri Kushnerev, Oleg Urushev and Konstantin Ernst

"Sakasama no Patema" ("Patema Inverted")
Japan
Produced by Mikio Ono

"Kaze Tachinu" ("The Wind Rises")
Japan
Produced by Toshio Suzuki

"Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya" ("The World of Goopi and Bagha")
India
Produced by Children's Film Society, India

  • ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Anthony Chen for "Ilo Ilo"
Singapore

Emir Baigazin for "Uroki Garmonii" ("Harmony Lessons")
Kazakhstan, Germany, France

Hiner Saleem for "My Sweet Pepperland"
Iraqi Kurdistan, France, Germany

Hirokazu Kore-eda for "Soshite chichi ni naru" ("Like Father, Like Son")
Japan

Shahram Mokri for "Mahi Va Gorbeh" ("Fish and Cat")
Islamic Republic of Iran

  • BEST SCREENPLAY

Asghar Farhadi for "Le Passé" ("The Past")
France, Italy

Denis Osokin for "Nebesnye Ženy Lugovykh Mari" ("Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari")
Russian Federation

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Anisul Haque for "Television"
Bangladesh

Ritesh Batra for "The Lunchbox"
India, France, Germany

U-Wei Bin Hajisaari for "Hanyut" ("Almayer's Folly")
Malaysia

  • ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ehab Assal for "Omar"
Palestine

Lu Yue for "Yi Jiu Si Er" ("Back to 1942")
People's Republic of China

Mandy Walker ASC ACS for "Tracks"
Australia, United Kingdom

Murat Aliyev for "Shal" ("The Old Man")
Kazakhstan

Rajeev Ravi for "Monsoon Shootout"
India, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  • BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR

Aaron Pedersen in "Mystery Road"
Australia

Adam Bakri in "Omar"
Palestine

Lee Byung-hun in "Masquerade"
Republic of Korea

Tatsuya Nakadai in "Nippon no higeki" ("Japan's Tragedy")
Japan

Yerbolat Toguzakov in "Shal" ("The Old Man")
Kazakhstan

  • BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

Ayça Damgacı in "Yozgat Blues"
Turkey, Germany

Golshifteh Farahani in "My Sweet Pepperland"
Iraqi Kurdistan, France, Germany

Negar Javaherian in "The Painting Pool"
Islamic Republic of Iran

Whirimako Black in "Tuakiri Huna" ("White Lies")
New Zealand

Zhang Ziyi in "Yi dai zong shi" ("The Grandmaster")
Hong Kong (PRC), People's Republic of China