Posts Tagged ‘kinatay’

Kinatay Triumph in Sitges International Film Festival

by admin, on Wed, Oct 14 2009 | No Comments
Director Brillante Mendoza

Director Brillante Mendoza

Another score for the brilliance of film director Brillante Mendoza as he, once again, received a Best Director award for his film Kinatay  in the 42nd Sitges International Film Festival held just recently in Spain.  Kinatay, which has international title The Execution of P, also won the Best Original Soundtrack for Teresa Barrozo.

The Sitges International Film Festival is known as the “number one fantasy film festival in the world.”  Awards is held at the Spanish region of Catalonia, in the city of Sitges.  This prestigious awar giving body started in 1968 as the 1st International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies. Nowadays, the Sitges Internation Film Festival is an essential rendezvous for movie lovers and audiences eager to come into contact with new tendencies and technologies applied to film and the audiovisual world.

Kinatay is about a police intern student, played by Coco Martin, who becomes a witness to the brutal rape and murder of a prostitute.¬† The organizers of the Film Festival describes Kinatay as ‚Äúan uncomfortable, abrasive film camouflaged with a stifling ultra-realism where the camera captures, in first person, the story of a kidnapping that will make even the bravest’ hair stand on end.”

Brillante Mendoza also bagged the Best Director awards Cannes Film Festival in France.

Aside from Kinatay, another Filipino film the “Independencia” by Raya Martin was also part of 42nd Sitges International Film Festival. But it was part of the SO Noves visions РFiction section while Kinatay was part of the main competition.

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Brillante’s Brilliance

by admin, on Mon, Jun 22 2009 | 1 Comment
Kinatay Cast on Cannes

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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