50TH THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
WHY CINEMA NOW?
November 13-22, 2009
INDEPENDENCE DAYS:
NEW PHILIPPINE CINEMA
The Independence Days section, curated by film critic Lefteris Adamidis and presenting outstanding developments in alternative/independent cinema from all over the world, pays tribute to Philippine cinema of the 21st century. Thirteen films will be screened and the guest directors attending the 50th TIFF will participate in a Roundtable on their national cinema and its rise, evident this year more than ever, with Brillante Mendoza’s directing award at Cannes and newcomer Pepe Diokno’s Engkwentro winning the Luigi De Laurentiis and Venice Horizons Awards in the Venice IFF.
A cinema that has gained acclaim and worldwide visibility in the last few years, Philippine cinema has a long history divided in various phases; it is the foremost form of entertainment in a country that boasts a prolific film industry. The films and directors showcased here, however, are descendants of pioneer and acclaimed filmmakers such as Ismail Bernal, Lino Brocka and Raymond Red. They display an independent and creative spirit, making use of the most recent advances offered by the digital revolution. They illustrate their country’s various realities, deal honestly with its past and stand out as fresh, non-conformist cinematic voices, creating films that are radical in content and form.
Perhaps the most internationally visible example of this boom in alternative Philippine cinema is Brillante Mendoza, a regular guest of the Independence Days section since 2005. Mendoza has directed seven films in four years and is the first-ever Philippine director to compete in Cannes and Venice in the same year. Mendoza’s films elicit strong and conflicting reactions. His often harsh, yet poignant and compassionate, brand of social realism has, in any case, earned him a multitude of international awards, a fact that applies to most of the filmmakers participating in the tribute.
Lav Diaz is renowned for his distinctive, epic approach to narrative; many of his films are more than five-hours long. Despite their extensive lengths, Diaz’s films are devoid of melodrama, socially conscious and committed to realism. Says Diaz, “I am trying to experience what these people are experiencing. They walk. I must experience their walk…I would go to any extent in my art to fathom the paradox that is the Philippine”.
Raya Martin’s Independencia is the first Philippine film to be selected for the prestigious Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes IFF. Along with A Song for Indio Nacional, they form two parts of a trilogy that deals with the Philippine’s struggles for independence and identity, depicting them in different historical phases. Manila, directed by Martin and Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr –a tribute to Lino Brocka’s Jaguar and Ishmael Bernal’s Manila By Night- recounts two stories, one by each filmmaker, only to create a unified, kaleidoscopic and raw portrait of the city itself. Adela, Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr’s own film, shares its protagonist with Mendoza’s newest film, Lola. Anita Linda, a Philippine cinema icon and veteran of numerous features since the 1940s, plays the role of Adela, a woman who finds herself alone on the day of her 80th birthday, her personal solitude contrasting with the flurry of slum life around her.
Khavn De La Cruz, a pioneer in the use of digital equipment in his country, is an extremely prolific underground filmmaker, as well the festival director of .MOV, the first digital film festival in the Philippines. His film The Muzzled Horse Of An Engineer In Search Of Mechanical Saddles will be screened during the 50th TIFF with the live music accompaniment of The Brockas, a band composed by De la Cruz, Diaz, John Torres and the producer Mei Bastes.
John Torres’s impressive debut, Todo Todo Teros, is a collage of previously shot footage, interviews, candid shots of Manila and the fictional story of a terrorist-filmmaker; it is indicative of the way contemporary Philippine directors have embraced digital technology and used it to their utmost advantage. Jim Libiran uses a more straightforward, documentary approach to his film Tribu, turning his camera to the juvenile hip-hop gangs in the district of Tondo, and sharing with Imburnal by Sherad Anthony Sanchez, its interest in the younger generations of the Philippines. Similar to their fellow filmmakers, Sanchez, Torres and Libiran seek to make testaments of lives; they share a commitment to depicting their country in a candid, outspoken manner, despite the fact that each of them displays his own individual approach.
For the full list of films and directors, see below:
THE FILMS OF THE TRIBUTE:
Adela, Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr., 2008, Philippines
Engkwentro, Pepe Diokno, 2009, Philippines
Imburnal, Sherad Anthony Sanchez, 2008, Philippines
Independencia, Raya Martin, 2009, Philippines / France / Germany / Netherlands
Kinatay, Brillante Mendoza, 2009, France / Philippines
Lola, Brillante Mendoza, 2009, Philippines
Manila, Adolfo B. Alix Jr.& Raya L. Martin, 2009, Philippines
Melancholia, Lav Diaz, 2008, Philippines
The Muzzled Horse Of An Engineer In Search Of Mechanical Saddles, Khavn de
La Cruz, 2008, Philippines
Slingshot (Tirador), Brillante Mendoza, 2007, Philippines
A Song for Indio Nacional (O Ang Mahabang Kalungkutan Ng Katagalugan), Raya Martin, 2005, Philippines
Todo Todo Teros, John Torres, 2007, Philippines
Tribu, Jim Libiran, 2007, Philippines
