Makoto Shinka, creator and director of the stunning VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR and THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS has just taken home the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the first annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which took place on November 13 on the Gold Coast, Queensland. 5 Centimetres per second beat out other nominees such as Keichi Hara's SUMMER DAYS WITH COO.

The awards is a joint sponsored event by CNN International, UNESCO, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and the State Government of Queensland, Australia. Designed to help promote and showcase film making in the Asia Pacific region, it is the hope that this award ceremony will become an annual event.

If you are interested in checking out the other nominees and winners from this year's awards, tune into CNN on November 17th.