Asia and the Pacific's equivalent of America's Academy Awards, titled the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, headed to Brisbane this year to celebrate the best filmmakers in the region, adding a much needed ceremony to a movie industry that needed more recognition. Hopefully award winners and runner ups will achieve worldwide fame through being highlighted on such a large scale.

It's Asia's equivalent of the Academy Awards -  the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. This year the stars will gather in Brisbane for the Asia Pacific film industry's night of nights.

Filmmakers and actors from 18 different countries right across the region are in Queensland's capital, where the awards will be handed out in a special ceremony tonight.

Maxine Williamson is the artistic director of the awards. She says the awards and the academy are very important to the region.

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