With the recent Orizzonti Best Film award for Lav Diaz's (pictured, left) Melancholia in Venice, the independent Philippine cinema is thriving and is getting renown in the global film circuit.
Last May, Brillante Mendoza's Serbis becomes the third Filipino picture to be included in the official competition section of Cannes. Despite its divisive critical reception, the Filipino-French co-production is being featured in major filmfests like Toronto and New York (the first official selection entry for the Philippines). Didier Couzet, the French producer who shepherded Serbis, is optimistic about the controversial movie's market potential (despite its graphic nudity and sex scenes, shaky camerawork, and little-known cast of Pinoys).
Aside from Diaz, another young filmmaker, Francis Xavier Pasion was the toast of the Orizzonti Section in Venice. His latest effort, the digital-shot drama Jay, opened the festival, while Diaz' Melancholia was the closing film. Though the latter was shocked when the Chantal Akerman-led jury opted to have a break into between the 9-hour screening, it was sweet victory after all. (The Mindanao-born helmer has established good cred in the fest, with his last feature, the 536-minute docudrama Death in the Land of Encantos winning the Golden Lion Special Mention award last year.)
And with the enthusiastic reception for Filipino films in Toronto this year, it is enough to say that the country is experiencing a cinematic rebirth. 2008 is a year like no other year for indie Philippine cinema. This will continue for as long as filmmakers come up with artistically and commercially sound features.
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