September 2008 Archives

At the rate weâve been getting text messages that Brillante "Dante" Mendoza won this or that award in an international film festival, heâs probably the Filipi no director with the most number of wins in these events held all over the worl d. Is anybody making a tally? We have become almost blasé to hear that Dante has won in yet another film fes t. The prolific filmmakerâs latest triumph is at the 6th Vladivostok Internatio nal Film Festival of Asian Pacific Countries where he won the Best Director awa rd while his lead, Gina Pareño, earned the Best Actress honors for "Serbis." D anteâs victories are raising awareness in the international film community of t he Philippinesâ vibrant indie movie scene. (Photo: One more addition to his growing trophy collection: a triumphant Brilla nte "Dante" Mendoza (center) in Vladivostok, Russia.)

It is almost too good to be t rue: a Filipina actress, Marife Necesito (see photo), has been plucked from rel ative obscurity to star in an international film with Michelle Williams and Gae l Garcia Bernal. "Mammoth," written and directed by Swedish wunderkind Lukas Mo odysson, was shot in New York, Sweden, Thailand and the Philippines. With Marif e in the photo at the film's press conference in Sweden are Sophie Nyweide, Mic helle Williams, director Lukas Moodysson and Gael Garcia Bernal. Sounding humble in our interview via e-mail, Marife peppered every sentence wit h "po" -- we felt like we were being addressed by Nora Aunor. For brevityâs sak e, we deleted all the "pos" in Marifeâs answers in our interview which appears in our column. Read her account of how she landed the role -- it's a fascinatin g story.

TORONTO, Canada --It was a moving sight -- Anita Linda, at 83, atten ding her first ever international film festival, was applauded and cheered enth usiastically by the audience who came to the second screening of "Adela," her m ovie directed by Adolfo Alix Jr. (left)Â and produced by Arleen Cuevas (right), at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival. A âquestion and answerâ wi th the audience followed the screening which reflected the crowd's affection fo r Anita and her performance as a grandmother marking her 80th birthday. I was t old that the first screening of "Adela" was also a success. (Photo by R uben Nepales).

The Philippines' "Melancholia" directed by Lav Diaz won the Orizzonti prize for feature film in the Venice Film Festival. Last year, Diaz won the Special Mention in the Orizzonti for his documentary "E ncantos."Melancholia," according to Diaz, is an 8 plus hour meditation on love, life and suffering. It was shot in various locations around the Philippine cou ntryside.

MY good hunch about our two entries in the ongoing Venice Film Festivalâs sidebar, Orizzonti, âJayâ and âMelancholia,â is proving to be right . (Photo: "Jay" delegation on the Lido [from left]: distributor Ferdy Lapuz, acto r-cinematographer Carlo Mendoza, lead actor Baron Geisler and writer-director-p roducer Francis Xavier E. Pasion) Financial Times came out with the first review of director Francis Xavier E. Pa sionâs âJayâ and it is very encouraging. The London paperâs critic, Nigel Andre ws, cited Francisâ directorial debut which stars Baron Geisler, Coco Martin and Flor Salanga, as one of the standouts so far in the festival on the Lido. Andrews wrote, âOn the Venice fringe there have been two films to cheer: an Ita lian reconstruction and a Philippine satire. Pier Paolo Pasoliniâs 1963 La Rabb ia (âRageâ) was a potion of screen rhetoric, never before seen in the undiluted form the director intendedâ¦Giuseppe Bertolucci (Bernardoâs brother) has re-as sembled the old material, added some never seen, and puts before Italy and the world Pasoliniâs true original rage, a scintillating montage of 20th-century ne ws footage â from Mussolini to Marilyn Monroe â unified and signposted by a gen iusâs vision. âPerfidious media managers; treachery in the name of truth. They are everywhere today, not least in the lies of âreality TV.â Francis Xavier Pasionâs Jay, fro m the Philippines, is an acutely funny tale of intrusive telly reporters, beari ng down on a family bereaved by a gay sonâs murder to make their grief part of a nationâs infotainment. They start by poking a lens at the familyâs faces as t hey learn the news; they end by getting them to act, or re-enact, every emotion al convulsion that needs a second, third or umpteenth take. The remuneration? T he reporters will help find the sonâs killer. By the time they do, even the mur derer, we know, will be signing release forms and hungrily securing his 15 minu tes of fame.â Congratulations to the âJayâ delegation now in Venice! Next, Lav Diaz unveils h is âMelancholiaâ on Saturday. I have high hopes for Lavâs second consecutive Or izzonti (Horizons) entry too.

THE SE are exciting times for Philippine independent cinema. Pinoy indie films are being selected left and right as official selections in major film festivals ar ound the world. (Photo: RP pride on the red carpet in the Venice Film Festival where "Jay" open ed Orizzonti, a competition sidebar: actor-cinematographer Carlo Mendoza, lead actor Baron Geisler, Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller, selection com mittee member Paolo Bertolin, writer-director-producer Francis Xavier E. Pasion and distributor Ferdy Lapuz). I just heard via e-mail from director Francis Xavier E. Pasion, whose Cinemalay a winning entry, âJay,â just opened the Orizzonti (Horizons) sidebar of the ong oing Venice Film Festival. While Francis sounded ecstatic about the reception of âJayâ at the PalaLido and PalaBiennale in the festival on the Lido, he also expressed his wish that the Philippine government and the private sector would support more enthusiasticall y the fledging indie film industry which has been reaping honors for the countr y. The director of the film which stars Baron Geisler, Coco Martin and my long-tim e friend Flor Salanga wrote in his email to me, âI am extremely happy for Phili ppine cinema's participation in the Venice International Film Festival, but at the same time, I feel that there is more to be done to be more competitive in t he world stage. I envy some of the films that are given full support by the gov ernment and private sectors in their respective countries.â He clarified, âWe are grateful for the FDCP (Film Development Council of the Ph ilippines) for their support for our film, but we hope that the government woul d give more funding to the agency because more films are getting invitations fr om festivals abroad, and there is a resurgence of independent films that need f unding from the agency.â Lav Diaz, whose âMelancholiaâ closes the Orizzonti on Saturday, September 6, ha d earlier expressed similar sentiments but in, let me say, colorful Tagalog ter ms. The filmmaker who is going places with his first feature film added, âFDCP and the NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) are the two government institutions that are directly involved with the funding of independent films. â He shared, âThe international audience in Venice could hardly believe that we c an produce a good film in 10 days with a budget of only 1.5 million pesos (25,0 00 euros). Speaking about the subject matter of âJay,â Francis said, âSome of the Italian documentary film directors and media practitioners said that they can relate wi th the strong message of media manipulation and the prevalence of infotainment in Italy.â Both he and Francis have a chance of shouting âMabuhay ang pelikulang Pilipino! â from the podium come awards night on Sunday, September 7.