Kinatay Cast on Cannes

Brillante Mendoza hits Cannes Films Festival Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) two years in a row. Brillante Mendoza is the same guy who directed the internationally acclaimed indie film Serbis. Last year, his movie Serbis competes for the highest honor in Palme d’Or, it is the first time for a Filipino film to be nominated in Cannes Film Festival since 1984.

Cannes Films Festival Palme d’Or (commonly called Golden Palm Awards), is one of the most prestigious award giving body which is known for its selection of art-house, critically artistic films. Movies selected in Golden Palm are often gritty movies that do not set out to entertain in the traditional sense of the word.

This year Brillante Mendoza makes it to Cannes once again with his entry “Kinatay (Butchered)”, and this time he scooped the Best Director award. Kinatay is the portrayal of police corruption in Manila, it included a scene of a prostitute being hacked to death. The movie traces 24 hours in the life of a trainee policeman, from his happy morning wedding to his bizarre night out with corrupt colleagues. They pick up a druggie-prostitute whose body parts they end up disposing all over the city.

Film critics are having divided opinion on the movie. It elicits both boo and applause. Mendoza was described in a weekend report as a “controversial love-him-or-hate-him director.” In a news conference following Kinatay’s Cannes screening, Mendoza said, “This is not just entertainment, these stories are real.”

Aside from Brillante Mendoza’s Kinatay, four other Filipino films made it to Golden Palm. The Raya Martin’s “Independencia”, it is the Philippines’ first entry to Un Certain Regard, the festival’s “more experimental and adventurous section.” Independencia is a historical drama set during the American Occupation. Raya Martin and Adolfo Alix Jr. film “Manila” was selected for Special Screenings category. The short “Sabongero,” by Filipino-American Janice Y. Perez was selected for the Short Film Corner. Also entered in the Short Film Corner is Aissa Peñafiel and Miguel Ocampo’s “Manong Maong,” a five-minute, 20-second animation movie.

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