The filmmaker, Adilkhan Yerzhanov is nominated for the "Asia Pacific Screen Awards-2019" in the category "Best Director" for his film "A Dark, Dark Man". The award ceremony will be held in November 21 in Brisbane, Australia. Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is one of the most popular screen award and held with the assistance of the UNESCO and the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) , often called the Asian counterparts of the Oscars.

The film "A Dark, Dark Man" was created by "Astana Film Fund" with the participation of the "Short Brothers" and "Arizona Production" companies. The world premiere of the film took place on September 23 of this year as part of the main competition program of the 67th San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film will be released in Kazakhstan next year.

APSA annually review participants from more than 70 countries of the world. Earlier, two films by the director were awarded: the film “The Owners” (2014) was nominated for “Best Film” and “Best Cinematography”, the film “The Gentle Indifference of the World” (2018) - for “Best Film” and “Best Screenplay”.  Adilkhan Yerzhanov is also an honorary member of the APSA Academy.

"A Dark, Dark Man" tells the story of a boy killed in an aul (Kazakh village). Detective Bekzat (actor Daniyar Alshinov) wants to close the case as soon as possible, because the perpetrator - a harmless local moron Pukuar (Teoman Khos) - has  already been found by local policemen. But everything  falls apart when a journalist Ariana (Dinara Baktybaeva) comes from the city. Now Bekzat must conduct a real investigation, following procedure, for the first time in his career.

The general producers of the film are Akan Satayev and Ernar Kurmashev. Adilkhan Yerzhanov and Roelof Jan Minneboo worked on the script. The producer for international promotion is Olga Khlasheva, the executive producer is Serik Abishev, both collaborated with Yerzhanov on all his films. The DoP is Aydar Sharipov from Russia , he also worked with Yerzhanov on the film "The Gentle Indifference of the World." The production designer is another permanent associate of the director Yermek Utegenov, who worked with Adilkhan Yerzhanov on 7 films. The music for the film was created by the famous musician Galymzhan Moldanazar.

“A Dark, Dark Man” was recognized as the best film by the international press: the film was named the best in the director’s career, «one of the complicated and fascinating film of the year", "the most brightest hypnotic film of the competition program of the festival in San Sebastian”, “brilliant” and “close to perfection”. The critics found new parallels of the Yerzhanov’s film with the works of Emir Kusturica, Federico Fellini and Quentin Tarantino.

“It's nice that the film was nominated for the Best Director Award, but it seems to me that this nomination affirm the dignity of the actors, artists, cameramen and other professionals who worked on the film,” commented Adilkhan  Yerzhanov.