Lav Diaz film wins in HK financing forum

LAV DIAZ’S coming project, “When the Waves Are Gone,” won the 2016 Paris Co-Production Village Award at the 20th Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). The prize comes with round-trip tickets and accommodation so that the filmmaker can attend the Paris Co-Production Village, which coincides with the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in June.

Producer Bianca Balbuena explained that the HAF and Paris Co-Production Village “give filmmakers the opportunity to pitch their planned projects to prospective financiers, coproducers, sales agents and distributors.”

She said that foreigners “are always looking forward to hear about the next project of Lav,” who had just won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale for “Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis.”

Balbuena, who is coproducing “When the Waves Are Gone” with Bradley Liew, related that it is a noirish film about “revenge, bloodshed and a femme fatale.”

“Like his past films, this one tackles the pain of the past and the search for the Filipino soul,” she said. Bayani San Diego Jr.