Pinoy director Lav Diaz's acclaimed film 'Norte' shown at Polish film fest

Two months after it received rave reviews at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival, multi-awarded veteran director Lav Diaz’s four-hour masterpiece, “Norte: Hangganan ng Kasaysayan” was screened once again at Poland’s biggest film festival in Poland along with the works of three promising Filipino independent or indie filmmakers.

Diaz’s “Norte” was handpicked by critics as one of the few movies from Asia to be shown from July 18 to 28  at the 13th T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, regarded as one of the most important film events in Central Europe.

Three indie movies from the Philippines were also screened during the 10-day festival. These are Sherad Sanchez’s “Jungle Fever,” John Torres’ “Lukas Niño” and Shireen Seno’s “Big Boy.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that only films from the Philippines and Japan were chosen from all over Asia to be featured in the annual film fest.

According to its website, the Polish film festival “presents uncompromising, innovative and original cinema from all over the world that explores new horizons in film language, expression and storytelling.”

Diaz, whose narratives often stretch into hours, received a five-minute long standing ovation when he premiered “Norte” during the Cannes film festival last May.

According to its synopsis, “Norte” tells the story of an innocent man who was sent to prison for murder while the true killer roams free. The killer remains on the loose but is continually frustrated with his country's never-ending cycle of betrayal and apathy. It stars Sid Lucero, Archie Alemania and Angeli Bayani.

Adam Cook of the online film review site mubi.com tweeted that Diaz’s film was “gorgeous, surprising, brilliant!” while another film critic, Daniel Kasman, hailed the movie as a powerful film.

“The vividly human scale of Diaz’s film, its telling of a classic story specifically within a topical context, its remarkably simultaneous magnitude and minuteness, it is a work so powerful that its tendrils of suggestion seem capable to connect all of the films of Cannes together,” he said. - Xianne Arcangel, VVP, GMA News