Acclaimed actress and activist Shabana Azmi will be the president of the international jury for the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be held in the Gold Coast in November.

The Gold Coast, a favourite tourist destination for Indians, has been making headlines since the now freed terror suspect Muhammad Haneef was detained at Brisbane International airport on July 2. Haneef was working as a registrar in a Gold Coast hospital.

The most vociferous critic of the Australian government's handling of the Haneef case, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said: "Film encourages better understanding of our diverse cultures and, in that way, may help to deliver a more peaceful future. It is for these reasons that the Queensland government has invested in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards - an initiative of distinct benefit and global consequence.

"As well as fulfilling an important cultural mandate, the awards also offer business and marketing opportunities not just for Australian filmmakers, but to their colleagues in the region. It will bring enormous benefits to the film industry of the Asia-Pacific region," he added.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards engages CNN International, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) in a unique partnership to acclaim films that best reflect their cultural origins and cinematic excellence.

APSA Chairman Des Power said: "Ms. Azmi is undoubtedly one of India's most influential actresses. Asia Pacific Screen Awards is strongly committed to cinematic excellence and the promotion of the regions' respective cultures through film. There is no better person to head the APSA jury than Ms Azmi. Her integrity and commitment to the APSA ideals is considerable."

A luminary of art house cinema, Azmi has acted in more than 140 films and is renowned for the sensitivity of her portrayals in films such as Deepa Mehta's "Fire", Shekhar Kapur's "Masoom", Satyajit Ray's "Shatranj Ke Khilari", John Schlesinger's "Madame Sousatzka", Nicholas Klotz's "Bengali Night", Roland Joffe's "City of Joy" and Ismail Merchant's "In Custody", among others.

Azmi is the recipient of many national and international awards, including the International Gandhi Peace Prize awarded at the House of Commons in London and the Crystal Award at Davos. A retrospective of her films was screened at the New York Film Festival in 2002.

A parliamentarian and noted social activist, Azmi has been taking up the cause of women, development, reproductive health, housing for the economically weaker sections, public health and AIDS. In 2002, she was one of the main speakers at the Sixth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific held in Melbourne.

APSA will showcase the talent and cinematic diversity of a region covering one-third of the earth's surface and 60 percent of the world's population. It will bring together films from the classical and traditional to the experimental and cutting edge industries - from the stylised horror genres of Japan, to the allegorical tragedies and comedies of Korea.

It will also showcase the extraordinary tapestry of Chinese cinema, the multifaceted industries of India, the poetry and reality of Persian cinema and visionary narratives of the Middle East.

The inaugural APSA ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa on the Gold Coast on Nov 13.