Cheer Factor: Latest Diokno film wins Berlin grant

IN BERLIN (from left): Producer Bianca Balbuena, Arte’s Michel Reilhac and Annamaria Lodato and filmmaker Pepe Diokno.

“Above the Clouds,” Filipino filmmaker Pepe Diokno’s follow-up to his Venice-winning debut “Engkwentro,” won the International Relations Arte prize at the Berlin International Film Festival last month. The prize comes with a grant of 6,000 euros from the German-French broadcaster Arte. Last year, the same project won a $10,000 development grant from the Asian Cinema Fund at the Busan fest. Diokno will begin shooting “Above the Clouds” in September. Bayani San Diego Jr.