Celebration: An Anthology to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Silliman University National Writers Workshop Sands and Coral, 2011-2013
Silliman University, 2013
Wow. Now look what we've got here. Despite mixed reviews that went from scathing and spiteful to spirited, Brillante Mendoza made Philippine cinema history by winning the Best Director prize for Kinatay in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival! He has bested other legendary directors including Pedro Almodovar, Quentin Tarantino, Jane Campion, and Alan Resnais!
His acceptance speech goes: "First of all I would like to thank the selection committee, who are responsible for bringing my films here for the past three years. And now with an award for Best Director, I would like to thank the Jury. And of course I’d like to thank my producer; thank you for the trust and faith in my films. I’d like to thank also a very committed staff and crew. I’d like to share this award with my daughter, Angelica, who has always been my number one critic and to an actor I really respect, Coco Martin. Thank you all for embracing my kind of cinema."
The awards were presented Sunday, chosen by a jury headed by French Actress Isabelle Huppert. The Palme d'Or went to The White Ribbon, directed by Austria's Michael Haneke, the Grand Prize to A Prophet, directed by France's Jacques Audiard, the Jury Prize to Fish Tank, directed by Britain's Andrea Arnold and Thirst, directed by South Korea's Park Chan-wook. Christoph Waltz won Best Actor for Inglourious Basterds, from the United States, and Charlotte Gainsbourg was Best Actress for the Danish film Antichrist. Best Screenplay went to China's Feng Mei for Spring Fever, and the Camera d'Or (which is given to a first-time director) went to Australia's Warwick Thornton for Samson and Delilah, while Best Short Film went to Portugal's Arena, directed by Joao Salaviza. A Special Prize, meanwhile, went to cinema legend Alain Resnais.
Full story here. Richard Corliss, for Time, gives a roundup.
This has been a good year for Filipino film, Cannes-wise, what with three films in three separate competitions and screenings (aside from Kinatay, we had Raya Martin's Independencia in Un Certain Regard, and Adolfo Alix Jr. and Raya Martin's Manila had a Special Screening!
Congratulations, Dante! Pero, after Serbis and Kinatay, maiba naman next time, please?
[UPDATE]
Watch the entire awards telecast here. Follow the comments thread in AwardsDaily here. Read one of the positive notices for the film from Screen Daily's Mike Goodridge. Watch a clip from Kinatay below:
12:11 PM |
Being Onion-Skinned, Roger Ebert, and Kinatay in Cannes
I kinda berated myself after incessantly blogging about the hostile reviews of Brillante Mendoza's Serbis in Cannes last year. After a few days of doing that, I thought Mendoza finally didn't deserve the clawing: being in Cannes was honor enough -- and I didn't even see Serbis to merit what I did.
But Roger Ebert, a film critic I hold in such high esteem, now calls Kinatay (Mendoza's latest entry to the Main Competition) the worst film ever screened in Cannes history. Or more precisely: "Here is a film that forces me to apologize to Vincent Gallo for calling The Brown Bunny the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival."
Ouch.
I don't know what to say -- and I won't say anything at all, with the film still sight unseen by me.
What I want to say though is this: some of the Filipino commenters in Ebert's blog post on Kinatay are so embarrassingly dramatic. Histrionic even. Nakakahiya.Read them and weep for our thin-skinned-ness.
I cannot help but be wowed: there are three -- three -- Filipino films screening in Cannes 2009! Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay is in Official Competition (together with such luminaries as Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar, Ang Lee, Ken Loach, Chan-Wook Park, Michael Haneke, Alan Resnais, Jane Campion, Lars von Trier, and others), Raya Martin's Independencia is in Un Certain Regard (where directors new to the festival have to debut before they can get into the official competition in future festivals), and Adolfo Alix Jr. and Raya Martin's Manila has a Special Screening! [Download the official list in the Cannes site.]
Is the Philippines finally back in the cinematic world map after a long, long drought? Oh yes we are!
(And, Raya, ang long hair mo!)
Here are the official trailers of Independencia and Manila...
4:53 AM |
Dante Wins Best Director in Cannes!
