Guria Wins Best Film at 19th Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Levan Koguashvili's seven-country production took the top prize on Oct. 30, 2026, while Sompot Chidgasornpongse won best director for 9 Temples to Heaven.
Guria, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won best film at the 19th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, presented on Oct. 30, 2026, at The Star Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The film was produced by Olena Yershova, Levan Koguashvili and Boris Frumin and was made across seven countries.
Sompot Chidgasornpongse took best director for 9 Temples to Heaven, and Aung Phyoe received a special mention in the directing category for Fruit Gathering. Shahrbanoo Sadat won the Jury Grand Prize for No Good Men.
In the performance categories, Pushpa Thing Lama won best performance for Elephants in the Fog, and Sim Su-bin was named best new performer for The World Before. Rakan Mayasi, Wahid Ajmi and Pôl Seif shared the screenplay award for Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep, while Nguyễn Vinh Phúc won the cinematography prize for Hearing.
Paloma Schneideman won best youth film for Big Girls Don't Cry, and the animation prize went to The Violinist, co-directed by Ervin Han and Raúl García. Itab Azzam and Jack MacInness won best documentary for One in a Million.
Isabelle Kalandar received the Cultural Diversity Award for Another Birth, R. Gowtham earned the Young Cinema Award for Members of the Problematic Family, and Haziqah Azemi won the Forum Filmmaker Award for her project Garek. Bobby Bedi was given the FIAPF Award for outstanding contribution to film in the Asia Pacific.
Five projects share MPA fund grants
Five projects were selected for the 2026 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, each receiving a $10,000 grant funded by the Motion Picture Association: A Memory of Being Here, My Father's Glory, A Place in the Sun, Incarnation and The Story of My Shirt. Three of the five are directed by women.
The APSA Academy now has upward of 1,816 members across 84 countries and areas. 9 Temples to Heaven received MPA APSA Academy Film Fund support in 2021, and Haziqah Azemi developed Garek with mentoring from APSA Academy member Yulia Evina Bhara after taking part in the Griffith Film School and APSA Regional Reels program, according to Variety.
Quick answers
Which film won best film at the 2026 Asia Pacific Screen Awards?
<em>Guria</em>, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won best film.
Who won best director at the 19th Asia Pacific Screen Awards?
Sompot Chidgasornpongse won best director for <em>9 Temples to Heaven</em>.
How much does each MPA APSA Academy Film Fund grant provide?
Each of the five selected projects receives a $10,000 grant funded by the Motion Picture Association.