Filipinos' presence at Cannes Film Festival

News flash!

Brillante Mendoza is named Best Director at Cannes 2009 for his film, “Kinatay.” And take note, that he won over other respected directors like Ang Lee (Taking Woodstock) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) and Ang Lee under the same category.

Mendoza is the first Filipino to win Best Director at Cannes for a full-length film. He made his debut at Cannes last year for his film “Serbis.”

This year is the 62nd edition of the world’s most famous film festival.

“Kinatay” is a story of a kidnap-rape victim, played by Maria Isabel Lopez. Like the title implies, Lopez is murdered and hacked to pieces.

The most prestigious Palme d'Or (Golden Palm Award) went to Austrian director Michael Haneke for Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) while the Grand Prix award was given to French filmmaker Jacques Audiard for Un Prophete (A Prophet). Twenty films competed for the highest honor at the festival.


Here is what Mendoza said after he received The Best Director Prize "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."

Photo of Mendoza, his acceptance speech and 2009 Cannes Festival Poster from http://www.festival-cannes.com

There were two other full-length Filipino films in the Festival, namely, “Independencia” which was a historical drama starring Sid Lucero and Tetchie Agbayani and “Manila” which starred Piolo Pascual

Plus two short films. “Sabongero” directed by Filipino-American Janice Perez and the animated short “Manong Maong” directed by Aissa Peñafiel and Miguel Ocampo.

Definitely, making a strong Filipino presence at Cannes and around the globe!