Cemetery of Splendour wins Best Feature at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Presenters Sofie Formica and Anthony Chen at the ninth Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane. Photo courtesy of APSA.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's much-acclaimed latest feature Cemetery of Splendour (รักที่ขอนแก่น, Rak Ti Khon Kaen) was named best feature film at the ninth Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Thursday night in Brisbane.

It's the second time a Thai film has won an award at the APSAs, an Australia-based ceremony that was first held in 2007. The awards recognize and promote cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest-growing film region, which comprises 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people and is responsible for half of the world’s film output. In 2015, 39 films from 22 Asia Pacific countries and areas received APSA nominations.

Thailand's previous APSA winner was Uruphong Raksasad's Agrarian Utopia, which won the Unesco Award in 2009. A third Thai film, the documentary Citizen Juling, was also a nominee in 2009.

The full list of this year's winners can be found at the APSA website.

Cemetery of Splendour premiered to much acclaim in the Un Certain Regard section of this year's Cannes Film Festival. It has been a fixture on the circuit since then, with appearances that include the London film fest and the Pancevo Film Festival, where it shared the Lighthouse Award with Flotel Europa.

Closest Splendour is coming to Thailand this year appears to be the Singapore International Film Festival. Prospects for a Thai screening are uncertain or even unlikely, according to various interviews with the director.