PHL execs place high hopes on Pinoy films competing in Berlinale

Philippine officials placed high hopes on the four Filipino films that will compete in the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) next week, including one by 2009 Cannes Film Festival Best Director Brillante Mendoza.   In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said 22 films “from all over the world” will be competing in the festival, which will be held from February 9 to 19. From the Philippines, Mendoza’s “Captive” will be in the main competition.    The DFA said the film “hopes to regain Berlinale audiences’ attention to the excellence of filmmaking in the Philippines.”   “For almost the past three decades, the Philippines has not had a film entry in the Main Competition section. The first and only time it did was in 1983 with the film ‘Himala’ by award-winning director Ishmael Bernal. However, this year, ‘Captive’ is among the first batch of five films selected as official entries in the Main Competition,” it said.   The DFA described “Captive” as “a fiction film that retraces real-life events about a hostage drama in the southern Philippines.”   Entries   The other three films competing in different categories are as follows:

• “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank” by Marlon Rivera (Forum Section)
• “Nono” by Rommel Tolentino (Generation Kplus Section)
• “Pusong Wazak!” by Khavn de la Cruz (Short Film Section).

“Ang Babae sa Septic Tank” stars Cinemalaya best actress Eugene Domingo. The film is Rivera’s directorial debut.   It is “a hilarious take on the Filipino indie (independent) film industry, its ups and downs, and the seemingly endless challenges that indie filmmakers face,” the DFA said.   Meanwhile, “Nono” tells “about a young child with a speech disability due to facial deformity, and his desire to join the oratorical contest during his school’s National Language Week celebration.” The film bagged the Special Jury Prize in the 2009 Cinemalaya Film Festival, while Tolentino “is the first Filipino filmmaker who won the Clermonth Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France in 2009,” the DFA said.   De la Cruz’s “Pusong Wazak!”, according to the DFA, “is a classic love story between a gangster and a prostitute.”  - RJMD, GMA News