Filmmakers rejoice over four Cannes entries

Philippine filmmakers are euphoric that four Filipino independent films have been included in the line-up for this year’s prestigious Cannes festival - a first for a country with a struggling film industry. Three of the films are included in the official selection for the main competition, the section Un Certain Regard and the Special Screenings category, while a fourth was selected for the Short Film Corner.

Leading the pack is Kinatay, a film about a gang of hitmen who chop up the bodies of their victims. It is directed by Brillante Mendoza, who also competed for the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or last year with his film Serbis. “It’s an exciting year for the Philippines,” Mendoza said, adding that the entry of the four Filipino films in the Cannes bodes well for the local industry, which continues to suffer from rampant piracy, high taxes and stiff foreign competition. It is Mendoza’s third year in a row to take part in the Cannes. In 2007, his movie Foster Child premiered at the festival’s Directors’ Fortnight to rave reviews. The other Filipino films in this year’s Cannes Film Festival are Independencia by Raya Martin (Un Certain Regard section), Manila by Martin and Adolfo Alix Junior (Special Screenings category), and Sabongero by Filipino-American Janice Perez (Short Film Corner).

Martin is participating in the festival for the second year in a row. Last year, his film Now Showing was screened at the Directors’ Fortnight. Independencia, a historical drama set during the American occupation of the Philippines, is the country’s first entry to the Un Certain Regard section, considered as the festival’s “more experimental and adventurous” category.
“I hope this proves that the world’s current interest in Filipino films is not just a fad,” Martin told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “We’re not just the flavour of the month. We can compete in the global arena.”

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