‘Perfect Days’ Wins Best Film at Asia Pacific Screen Awards as Japan, Korea, Kazakh Titles Dominate
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films from Japan, Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” won the top prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Friday.
Multiple other honors went to films from Korea and Kazakhstan. The 16th edition of the APSA Awards was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and recognized films from eight countries. “Perfect Days,” a gentle comedy drama about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo finding happiness in the everyday, premiered in Cannes and more recently was selected as Japan’s Oscar contender and as the opening title of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Its producer Yanai Koji initiated the real-life Tokyo Toilet Project that features throughout film. Two part-autobiographical Korean diaspora stories have taken home awards in 2023.
Celine Song won the APSA for best director for her nuanced story of romance and emigration “Past Lives.” Anthony Shim was awarded the APSA for best screenplay for “Riceboy Sleeps,” a story of a single mother raising a son in Canada in the 1990s.
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