The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is accompanying 10 Filipino films in the 21st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which opened on Oct. 6 and runs until Oct. 15, to support the directors behind those movies and celebrate their works as these are screened to an international audience.
Counted among the features in the BIFF’s section dedicated to Asian filmmakers, “A Window on Asian Cinema”, are Lav Diaz’s Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery), which won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in February; Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa, which received the best-actress award for Jaclyn Jose at the Cannes International Film Festival in May; and Bradley Liew’s Singing in Graveyards, which was shown at last month’s Venice International Film Festival.
These three are joined by Ato Bautista’s Expressway and Anton Juan’s Woven Wings of Our Children, both of which will debut at the BIFF.
Included in the Wide Angle Documentary Showcase are Baby Ruth Villarama’s Sunday Beauty Queen, about overseas Filipino workers in a beauty contest, and Sheron Dayoc’s Crescent Rising, about the conflict in Mindanao. Both films are vying for the BIFF Mecenat and Busan Cinephile awards.
Competing in the Wide Angle Asian Short Film Competition is Phil Giordano’s Supot.
To be screened as part of the Short Film Showcase is Raymund Gutierrez’s Imago, which also competed at Cannes this year; and Mendoza’s Amorsolo’s Dream, part of the omnibus short film Art Through Our Eye, made with four other Southeast Asian directors and the National Gallery of Singapore.
The filmmakers of these works were the first recipients of the FDCP’s travel-assistance program, aimed to help filmmakers in their attendance of international film festivals abroad. On Oct. 10, the FDCP, led by Chairwoman Liza Diño, will host a Philippine night at the BIFF to celebrate the triumphs of Philippine cinema at the festival, together with the Filipino filmmakers, as well as the Embassy of the Philippines in South Korea and Amb. Raul S. Hernandez.
Festival directors and international distributors will also be invited to the event, which will be introduced in the “Shoot in the Philippines” campaign with the FDCP’s Philippine Film Export Service Office program, which endeavors to bring international filmmakers to the country for their production and promote local talent and tourism.
The FDCP will also participate in the BIFF’s Asian Film Market, which covers topics ranging from pre-production to film sales with industry experts. The 10 films will be offered for distribution via a film catalog that compiled numerous films sent in as a result of the FDCP’s open call for filmmakers. The Philippines’s local delegates at the BIFF will also be promoted there, as well, with materials created solely for the Filipino films showing in Busan.
With its participation in the BIFF, the FDCP hopes to set its template for supporting Filipino films in future international festivals and aims to help continue a stellar year for Philippine cinema.