TEHRAN -- Eight Iranian films have been nominated in various categories of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), which will be presented during a ceremony on the Gold Coast, Australia, on November 13.

Iran’s “Night Bus”, a drama about the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, along with “Caramel” (from Lebanon), “Opera Jawa” (Indonesia), “Secret Sunshine” (South Korea), and “Takva: A Man’s Fear of God” (Turkey) have been nominated for the Best Feature Film category.
Produced by Mehdi Homayunfar, “Night Bus” picked up four prizes including Best Film award at the 11th Iran Cinema Celebration on September 11.
The film has also been nominated Best Screenplay award. It was written jointly by Kiumars Purahmad and Habib Ahmadzadeh.
In addition, Mehrdad Sediqian, one of the leading actors of “Night Bus”, is competing for the Best Actor award.
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab, who jointly directed the junkie-centered movie “Mainline”, have been nominated for the Best Director award.
Baran Kowsari, leading actress of “Mainline”, has been nominated by the APSA jury members for Best Actress award and Hooman Behmanesh competes for the Best Cinematography award for “Those Three”.
“Locksmith” and “The Lost Land” are other Iranian films which are to be assessed for the categories of Best Children’s Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature Film respectively.
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is cosponsored by CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF -- the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
Caption: Kiumars Purahmad (R) directs Mehrdad Sediqian in a scene of “Night Bus”, which has been nominated in three categories at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Sediqian is competing for the Best Actor award of the event.