Brillante Mendoza returns to Cannes

Brillante Mendoza. AFP FILE PHOTO

Filipino filmmaker Brillante Ma. Mendoza returns to the Main Competition of this year’s Cannes Film Festival with “Ma’ Rosa.”

“Ma’ Rosa” stars Jaclyn Jose, Andi Eigenmann, Felix Roco, Jomari Angeles and Julio Diaz, who recently suffered a health crisis.

Mendoza is the lone Filipino in the fest’s main section. Mendoza’s student, Raymund Gutierrez, is competing in the Short Film Competition with “Imago.”

Gutierrez was a product of Mendoza’s film workshop last year.

Mendoza is no stranger to the world’s biggest cinema event, to be held this year from May 11 to 22 in the south of France.

In 2009, Mendoza won best director for the gritty crime drama “Kinatay.” Last year, he fielded the Yolanda movie “Taklub,” top-billed by Nora Aunor, in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes.

In 2008, he first joined the Main Competition with the erotic flick “Serbis.” The year before, he was part of the Directors’ Fortnight, a parallel section in Cannes, with the family drama “Foster Child.”

This year, Mendoza will be vying for top honors with an illustrious honor roll that includes United States’ Sean Penn (“The Last Face”) and Jim Jarmusch (Paterson”),  the Netherlands’ Paul Verhoeven (“Elle”), Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn (“The Neon Demon”), South Korea’s Park Chan-wook (“Agassi”), France’s Olivier Assayas (“Personal Shopper”), Spain’s Pedro Almodovar (“Julieta”), Belgium’s Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne (“La Fille Inconnue”), among others.