Independencia’ wins two major awards in Bangkok

Only in Hollywood
‘Independencia’ wins two major awards in Bangkok
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:06:00 10/03/2009

Filed Under: Cinema, Awards and Prizes
LOS ANGELES — News of Raya Martin’s “Independencia” winning the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition and the Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) at the just concluded seventh Bangkok International Film Festival provides a much-needed boost after the terrible devastation wrought by Ondoy.

Arleen Cuevas, who produced “Independencia,” accepted the awards during the closing ceremonies held last Wednesday at the Chatrium Suites Bangkok. Raya is attending the New York Film Festival, where his American Occupation-set drama will also be entered.

Interestingly, this first Filipino film to compete in the Un Certain Regard section in the Cannes Film Festival shows a violent storm that has a profound impact on a family played by Sid Lucero, Alessandra de Rossi and Mika Aguilos.

Arleen flew to Bangkok from Vladivostok, where “Independencia” competed in the seventh Pacific-Meridian International Film Festival. She posted in her Facebook page that the very first question she was asked during the Q&A with the audience after the film’s screening was, “Why is there is so much rain in the Philippines (as shown in the movie)?” This was before Ondoy struck, so Arleen’s post drew amused comments, including one from this columnist.

Another Philippine entry, Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s “Imburnal,” along with Malaysia’s “Call If You Need Me,” won the Special Mention Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition of the Thai film festival, which hopes to champion films from the region. The Special Jury Prize went to Thailand’s “Nymph.”

Rock icon

Berlin-based journalist and film critic, Vincenzo Bugno, Singaporean filmmaker, Royston Tan, and Thai indie rock icon and poet, Tul Waitoonkiat, made up the jury for the Southeast Asia Competition.

As we write this, Arleen is flying back to the Philippines. She promised to e-mail us about “Independencia’s” triumph once she’s home.

Brillante “Dante” Mendoza served as a juror in the main competition along with Chinese filmmaker, Li Yang, and Thai stage and movie director, Ekachai Uekrongtham. Dante and his two colleagues gave the top prize to an entry from Belgium, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth’s “Altiplano,” which was described by Screen Daily as “a hyper-stylized environmental drama set in a Peruvian village.”

The other winners in the main competition were China’s “The Search,” which clinched the Special Jury Prize and Canada’s “I Killed My Mother,” which bagged the Special Mention honors.

Incidentally, we’ve been able to watch some of the Cannes entries by filmmakers whom Dante edged out for the Best Director award. These include Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” and Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon,” which won the Palme d’Or. These are excellently crafted films, so we can’t wait to see “Kinatay,” the film that Dante won for and made him the first Filipino to win the Cannes’ coveted Best Director plum.

The filmmaker, who is reported to have a large following in Thailand, just got back to the Philippines. “Medyo pagod pa ako,” he wrote via e-mail. “Nag-alala ako while I was in Bangkok, kasi a lot of people were texting me, asking if we were OK.” We asked Dante to share his thoughts on being in the jury, and he obliged:

“It’s not easy judging other filmmakers’ work, because you can’t help judging them from your own point of view. Kasi mahirap maging director, lalo na kung ang pelikula ay galing sa Third World countries like ours. I’m saying this because the festival had good choices. But, I’m happy because most of my choices won, like ’The Search’ and ’I Killed My Mother.’

Long discussion

“We had a long discussion over the Grand Prize winner, ‘Altiplano,’ because of the use of religion in the film. Coming from a Catholic country, I pointed out some of its flaws, which my fellow jurors, Li Yang and Ekachai Uekrongtham, who are both Buddhists, didn’t quite understand—like the use of images, etc. But in the end, we agreed to give the prize to ‘Altiplano,’ which was also screened at the Critics Week in Cannes.

“I’m very happy but not surprised that Raya bagged the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition. In fact, biniro ko sina Adolf (Alix Jr.) na dapat makuha natin ang Grand Prize, Special Jury at Special Mention, pati Netpac. Nagkatotoo nga. There’s no doubt the Filipino independent cinema now has a very strong presence, not only in Asia, but in the whole world as well.

“Kapapanalo lang ni Pepe (Diokno) sa Venice, at eto na naman ang kay Raya. Pinoy indies are in focus at the Pusan and Thessaloniki International Film Festivals. I’m very sure that more Filipino independent productions will win in festivals. ’Serbis’ also won the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition last year. I was given a retrospective in Brazil early this month. Another retrospective will be given to my films in Lisbon, Portugal early next year. This year is indeed the golden year of Filipino independent films.”

We say, “Mabuhay!,” to Dante’s sentiments. We sure could use some good news at this time.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.