International
APSA lauds Indian filmmaker Akshay Indikar
MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific Screen Academy has honoured regional filmmakers at a special presentation on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Hosted by Leila McKinnon, the ceremony awarded its young cinema award to Indian filmmaker Akshay Indikar for Chronicle Of Space (Sthalpuran), with a special mention going to Australian Stephen Maxwell Johnson for High Ground. Chronicle of Space, which premiered at the Berlinale 2020, is a young boy’s story, told through his diary entries as he copes with challenges in a new life on India’s Konkan coast.
Thailand-based producer Soros Sukhum bagged the 2020 FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region. Sukhum is recognised for his work in the Thai indie space. He is known to launch the careers of Aditya Assarat, Sivaroj Kongsakul, Anocha Suwichakornpong, and Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. His latest credit is Memoria, the English language debut for director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, featuring Tilda Swinton.
The MPA APSA academy film fund has also revealed the four recipients of its US $25,000 script development grant: Bianca Balbuena (Philippines) for Việt and Nam (Vietnam), a collaboration with Vietnamese writer-director Minh Quy Truong; Guillaume de Seille (France) for A Kid on the Block (Japan), the magical realism feature debut of documentary filmmaker Kyoko Miyake; Annemarie Jacir from Palestine, whose 2017 film Wajib won 36 international awards, has received the grant for her project All Before You; and 2019 APSA young cinema award winner Ridham Janve (India) has received the grant for his project The Sacrifice (Ashwamedh).
The APSA presentation ceremony marked the end of the 2020 APSA Forum. A week-long series of various panels and roundtable discussions delivered both in person and digitally, with participants from 18 countries.
International
Council of Europe to unveil new TV and streaming co-production convention
Series Mania Forum to host landmark signing to boost global TV collaboration
LILLE: The small screen is getting a big policy push. At this year’s Series Mania Forum in Lille, Alain Berset will take centre stage to chair the opening ceremony for a new international convention aimed at reshaping how television and streaming series are co-produced across borders.
Set for March 26 at the Théâtre Marie Curie in Lille Grand Palais, the signing marks the debut of the first legal framework dedicated specifically to the independent co-production of series. In an industry where stories travel faster than ever, the move aims to make collaboration smoother, fairer and more transparent.
Backed by the Council of Europe, the convention is designed to strengthen cultural ties, give independent producers a firmer footing, and bring greater clarity to deals in a rapidly evolving content landscape. With streaming platforms fuelling a surge in global storytelling, the timing feels deliberate.
Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset, underscored the cultural heft of series today, noting how they carry voices and viewpoints across borders. He called on member states and countries beyond Europe to sign on, framing the initiative as a way to turn culture into a tool for cooperation and democratic exchange.
For Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg, hosting the signing is both symbolic and strategic. She described the convention as a step that could widen the range of stories reaching audiences, staying true to the forum’s long-standing mission of championing diverse storytelling.
The ceremony will unfold alongside the Lille Dialogues, a high-level summit that gathers policymakers and industry leaders to debate the future of Europe’s audiovisual sector. Berset is also set to deliver the opening address there, adding political weight to a week already rich in creative ambition.
In short, as screens multiply and borders blur, Europe is putting a framework in place to ensure that storytelling keeps pace, collaboratively and coherently.
