The Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners spotlighted some of the region’s most ambitious and internationally resonant filmmaking. Announced on Australia’s Gold Coast, this year’s honors celebrated bold storytelling, cross-border collaboration and a wide range of cinematic voices, with Georgia’s Guria emerging as the night’s top winner.
For film and TV audiences tracking global screen culture, the results reinforce how the Asia-Pacific region continues to shape the future of prestige cinema through co-productions, new talent and stories rooted in cultural specificity.
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 Winners: The Biggest Honors of the Night
Leading the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners list was Guria, directed by Levan Koguashvili, which won Best Film. The award also recognized the film’s producers Olena Yershova, Koguashvili and Boris Frumin, underscoring the importance of international co-production in today’s independent film ecosystem.
The Best Director prize went to Thai filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse for 9 Temples to Heaven, a title that had already generated attention on the festival circuit. Myanmar director Aung Phyoe received a Special Mention for Fruit Gathering, highlighting the jury’s support for emerging and underrepresented voices.
Another major moment among the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners was the Jury Grand Prize for Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat and her film No Good Men. The recognition praised both her storytelling approach and her contribution to contemporary Afghan cinema, placing the film among the year’s most culturally significant works.
Complete Standout Winners Across Key Categories
Beyond the marquee awards, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners showcased excellence across documentary, animation, performance and screenwriting.
- Best Youth Film: Big Girls Don’t Cry — directed by Paloma Schneideman
- Best Animated Film: The Violinist — co-directed by Ervin Han and Raúl García
- Best Documentary Film: One In A Million — directed by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInness
- Best Screenplay: Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep — by Rakan Mayasi, Wahid Ajmi and Pôl Seif
- Best Cinematography: Nguyễn Vinh Phúc for Hearing
- Best Performance: Pushpa Thing Lama for Elephants In The Fog
- Best New Performer: Sim Su-bin for The World Before
- Cultural Diversity Award: Another Birth — directed by Isabelle Kalandar
These titles reflect the extraordinary geographic and thematic breadth represented in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners, from Nepal and Vietnam to Lebanon, Qatar and New Zealand.
Why This Year’s APSA Results Matter
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners are notable not only for the films themselves, but also for what they reveal about the current direction of world cinema. Many of the winning titles are multinational productions, connecting filmmakers, producers and financiers across continents.
This trend matters because it shows how independent films are increasingly being built through international partnerships. In the APSA lineup alone, countries including Georgia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Singapore, France, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Cambodia appeared repeatedly across credits.
A Strong Year for Cross-Border Filmmaking
Several winners exemplify the power of co-production:
- Guria brought together partners from Georgia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Norway and Saudi Arabia.
- 9 Temples to Heaven connected Thailand with Singapore, France, Norway, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Qatar.
- Hearing represented one of the broadest collaborative footprints of the night.
For audiences interested in international film awards, this kind of collaboration often leads to richer storytelling perspectives and greater global reach.
Recognition for New and Emerging Talent
The ceremony also made space for breakthrough artists. Sim Su-bin’s Best New Performer win and R Gowtham’s Young Cinema Award recognition suggest that the future pipeline of Asia-Pacific cinema remains strong. Honors such as the Forum Filmmaker Award for Malaysia’s Haziqah Azemi and the FIAPF Award for India’s Bobby Bedi further broadened the event’s industry impact.
Film Fund Grants Add Momentum for Future Projects
One of the most forward-looking announcements tied to the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners was the reveal of the five recipients of the 2026 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Each project received a $10,000 grant supported by the Motion Picture Association.
The selected projects included:
- A Memory Of Being Here — Payal Kapadia and Thomas Hakim
- My Father’s Glory — Davy Chou and Charlotte Vincent
- A Place In The Sun — Taifeng Liu and Janet Wu
- Incarnation — Nicole Midori Woodford and Anthony Chen
- The Story Of My Shirt — Zhanana Kurmasheva and Banu Ramazanova
These grants are a reminder that major screen awards do more than honor completed films; they also help shape the next wave of cinema from the region.
What the Industry Can Take Away
Tracey Vieira, chair of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, emphasized the courage, creativity and cultural richness of this year’s honorees. That summary captures why the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners matter beyond a single ceremony: they highlight stories that may otherwise struggle for mainstream visibility, while giving filmmakers a stronger platform internationally.
For streaming executives, festival programmers and global audiences, the message is clear. The Asia-Pacific region remains one of the most exciting sources of cinematic innovation, and this year’s lineup proves that local stories continue to resonate on a global scale.
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Conclusion
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2026 winners offered a vivid snapshot of where global cinema is headed: toward international collaboration, daring narratives and greater recognition for diverse voices. With Guria, 9 Temples to Heaven and No Good Men leading the conversation, this year’s awards confirmed that the region remains central to the future of screen storytelling.
