By Ruben V. Nepales
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Lav Diaz’s nine-hour “Kagadanan sa Banwaan ning mga Engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos)” won the Golden Lion Special Mention award in the Horizons (Orizzonti) Documentary section of the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

The top prize went to “Wuyong (Useless)” by China’s Jia Zhangke.

Diaz and Zhangke won against such name directors as Jonathan Demme and Julian Schnabel. Last year, renowned director Spike Lee won the award in this category for “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.”

“Long live Philippine Cinema!” Diaz proclaimed in his acceptance speech. “In spite of all the madness in this world, it’s still a nice place to live in. We still have cinema. We have the Venice Film Festival. I would like to thank all the people who worked so hard for this film for nine months.”

Earlier, the cast and crew walked the red carpet. They were met by Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller who posed with them for pictures. Then he guided them inside the screening venue for the start of the “Encantos,” which was given the closing night honors.

The new work of Mindanao-born Diaz, described in the festival website as “one of the astonishing new South East Asian auteurs,” bested entries by filmmakers from around the world, including name American filmmakers.

Reviewing ‘Reming’

A mixture of documentary and fiction, “Encantos” tells the story of a fictional Filipino poet, Benjamin Agusan, who returns to his hometown in Padang, Bicol, in the aftermath of the destruction and tragedy wrought by Supertyphoon “Reming.” Agusan had spent several years in Russia on a scholarship grant.

The jury of the Horizons (Orizzonti) Documentary section watched “Encantos” in two installments. Paolo Bertolin, who helped the festival by coordinating with Diaz, told the Inquirer that the jury’s screening for “Encantos” was held on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Diaz worked frantically to finish the film in time for the festival’s jury and public screenings. Diaz, Bertolin and the festival organizers heaved a collective sigh of relief when the “Encantos” tapes finally arrived on Tuesday.

Sharing the film’s triumph in Venice with Diaz, who was also the cinematographer and editor, are production supervisor Laurel Peñaranda, production designer and actor Dante Perez, actors Roeder Camanag (who plays fictional poet, Benjamin Agusan), Perry Dizon (Teodoro) and Amalia Virtucio (albularya or quack doctor).

Send-up to father

Diaz acknowledged the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) for giving them travel grants and National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) executive director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez for helping secure the group’s visas and plane tickets.

“Encantos” mixes documentary and fiction. In an e-mail interview, Diaz described his film and his main character, Agusan: “I created Benjamin with no particular Filipino artist or persona in mind. My subconscious merely flowed with all the threads that ended up with the lead character in the nine-hour film. But, Benjamin’s journey is familiar terrain for the aesthetic traveler — the search for beauty, real love, redemption, and for answers that could push humanity to greater heights.”

He added: “The Russian bit is a send-up to my late father, although he never went to Russia. Yes, I know how it feels to be alone in distant lands — I know about solitude and sorrow, so I know Benjamin Agusan.”

Asians rule

Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s sexually explicit spy thriller “Lust, Caution” was the surprise winner of the top award at the Venice film festival, just two years after he won with “Brokeback Mountain.”

The movie is a World War II thriller set in Shanghai featuring long and sometimes violent sex scenes Lee has hinted were real.

The verdict means Asian directors have won the Golden Lion on the Lido waterfront for the past three years.

The Silver Lion for best director went to US filmmaker Brian De Palma, whose “Redacted” shocked audiences with its brutal reconstruction of the real-life rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by American soldiers in 2006.

Best actress, actor

Todd Haynes, one of six US productions in competition, scooped a runner-up slot with “I’m Not There,” his conceptual biopic about singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

In a bold piece of casting, Australian-born Cate Blanchett was one of six performers to play the singer-poet Bob Dylan at various stages of his life, and it paid off when she was named best actress in Venice.

Hollywood star Brad Pitt was the surprise winner of the best actor award for his portrayal of legendary outlaw Jesse James in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” With reports from Laurel Lee Peñaranda and Reuters