Finally

Finally, Cannes Film Festival Best Director Brillante Mendoza’s Kinatay will have its Philippine premiere on July 30, Thursday, 7:30 p.m., at the U.P. Film Institute.

For those of you who do not know yet, the film stars Coco Martin, a.k.a. Ramon.

Tickets will sell for P150 at the venue.

Will you be watching?  Ako medyo scared.  I think I need a gang of five to watch it with me.

Kinatay is written by acclaimed scriptwriter Armando “Bing” Lao.  WARNING:  If you’re into escapist films with happy endings, this movie is NOT for you.

But if you wanna see what Quentin Tarantino saw,

then you better watch this film.

Writer’s Director

“Ito lang ang palagi kong sasabihin: Kung ano man ako ngayon, at kung nasaan man ako ngayon, at kung saan ako pupunta, I always owe it to Armando Lao. Siya ‘yung kinu-consider kong mentor ko, mula noong una hanggang ngayon, at hanggang sa darating na panahon. I owe it to him.”

- 2009 Cannes Best Director Brillante Ma. Mendoza in his interview with Pep.ph

‘Thank you all for embracing my kind of cinema’

First Pinoy Best Director in Cannes Dante Brillante Ma. Mendoza was presented at the awarding ceremony by Terry Gilliam, the director of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Heath Ledger’s very last film.

Mendoza’s 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.”

I hope he had already called the scriptwriter Bing Lao and personally shared his glory with him.

Pinoys in Cannes

Just read from Variety.com that three Pinoy films have made it in the super prestigious Cannes Film Festival.  

Brillante Mendoza’s Kinatay will be competing against the films of Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Jane Campion, and many other well-known directors for the much-coveted Palme D’Or award.  Adolf Alix’s and Raya Martin’s Manila, which by the way stars its producer Piolo Pascual, is in for exhibition.  And again, Raya Martin’s Independencia is included in the Un Certain Regard category (what is that, anyway?). 

I think Mendoza’s Kinatay, a film about the chop-chop cases here in the Philippines, is written by Sir Bing Lao.  They’re the same award-winning tandem who made Serbis, which also made it in Cannes last year.  I attended Sir Bing’s advanced scriptwriting workshop a couple of years back and I remember him sharing with the class that he was working on a script about chop-chop victims.  So I guess heto na ‘yun.  And it’s already in Cannes.  Ang galing di ba?