Pinoy indie film Busong wins award in Brussels

Filipino filmmaker Auraeus Solito has won again with his "dream film" Busong. The first Palawanon indigenous film garnered the International Competition Tomorrow's Cinema Award at the 38th Brussels International Independent Film Festival in Belgium. "Beautiful that tomorrow's cinema comes from our indigenous Palawan's past," Solito said on Facebook, where he announced that the film won the award. Held in Belgium from November 1 to 6, the BIIFF aims to allow independent filmmakers who don't fit the classical ways of visual media to express themselves. The festival featured 100 films from 60 different countries. "I dedicated the award to my mother on the other side of the world, who told me these stories to put me to sleep. Manunga banar (for beautiful truths)," he said. Busong was also featured in the 27th Warsaw Film Festival, and was an official selection of the Cannes Directors' Fortnight last May. In September, the film was awarded the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) International Critics Prize at the Eurasia International Film Festival (EIFF) held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Busong, titled after the Palawan concept of fate or instant karma, is set in idyllic southern Palawan where ancient myths and modern politics mix in an explosive brew. Solito's first feature film, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, won 15 international awards, and has brought Solito to Montreal, Toronto, Okinawa, Utah, Berlin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, New York, Las Palmas in Spain, Sydney, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Warsaw, and London. The feature film was also named one of the Ten Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009) by Gawad Urian. Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros was followed by Tuli (2006), Pisay (2008), and Boy (2009). — RSJ, GMA News