TRUE collaborators (from left): Christopher Doyle, Khavn de la Cruz and Tadanobu Asano shoot a scene in crazy, chaotic Manila. photo: ALBERT BANZON/KAMIAS OVERGROUND
Although it didn’t bring home a trophy from the recent 27th Tokyo International Film Festival, Filipino filmmaker Khavn’s “Ruined Heart: Another Love Story Between a Criminal & a Whore” scored a distribution deal with the Japanese firm Uplink.
Khavn told the Inquirer that Uplink specializes in art-house films and that the theatrical release in Japan is set “sometime next year.”
The grand prize at the Tokyo fest went to the US-French production “Heaven Knows What,” megged by Joshua and Benny Safdie, who also won best director. Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s “The Lesson” (Bulgaria-Greece) won special jury prize.
In the Asian Future section, Amirhossein Asgari’s “Borderless” (Iran) won the top prize; Sotho Kulikar’s “The Last Reel” (Cambodia), the Spirit of Asia award, which is given by the Japan Foundation Asia Center. Bayani San Diego Jr.