Filipino Pride: Brillante Mendoza Named Best Director in Cannes Festival

This year’s Cannes Festival saw distinguished and renowned filmmakers like Ang Lee (“Taking Woodstock”), Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”), Jane Campion (“Big Star”) and other heavyweight Asian and European directors competing for the coveted best director prize. But it was a Filipino filmmaker who took home the glory last Sunday.

Brillante Mendoza of the Philippines bagged the best director prize at the Cannes film festival for his dark movie "Kinatay" (The Execution of P). “Kinatay” is a Tagalog word meaning Butchered. The movie was among the 20 films who vied for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mendoza is not new to Cannes Festival; he was also in Cannes last year for his movie “Serbis.” Like Serbis, "Kinatay" also received mixed reviews from various critics who regarded Mendoza as the "love-him-or-hate-him" director.

“Kinatay” tells the gruesome fate of a kidnap-rape victim who is beaten up before she is murdered and hacked into pieces.

Aside from "Kinatay," two other Filipino films made the cut in Cannes. Adolfo Alix Jr. and Raya Martin's "Manila", starring Piolo Pascual, was one of ten films given a special screening but it did not compete in Cannes while Martin's "Independencia" is under the Un Certain Regard category.

Thank you for making all Filipinos proud, Direk! Congratulations!