PH filmmaker unhappy about winning awards

Slimane Dazi (left) and Khavn dela Cruz

Filipino filmmaker Khavn dela Cruz is not exactly thrilled about winning the Special Mention prize at the 22nd Geneva International Film Festival for his latest work, “Alipato: The Very Brief Life of an Ember.”

“I was frustrated, a bit angry even,” Dela Cruz says of his recent win. “There should be no need for winning in the arts. Awards condition people into thinking that art is a competition, that good cinema is prize-winning … that a filmmaker must win an award or two to be considered finance-worthy.”

He considers such a notion “dangerous.”

“[It] enables the slow death of many and lack of support for most,” he remarks.

He finds the Geneva honor worrisome. “My films do not ask to be liked. In fact, my films actively seek to be disliked.”

That his film won signifies “that I have failed at this goal” to be loathed.

“The jury, which included France’s two best actors (Denis Lavant and Slimane Dazi) and one of Europe’s most influential producers (Michel Merkt), called ‘Alipato’ ‘an act of cinema,’ the most insane, the most punk, the most political [film],” he points out.

Now, that’s a head-scratcher.

He asks, rhetorically: “What does it mean to be political in the time of Trump … in the country of Duterte?”

In accepting the honor, however, he made certain “to dedicate the film to all the outsiders of the world: kids, midgets, freaks, paralytics, prostitutes, scoundrels.”

He sides with the marginalized. “These are my people. I make outsider films that talk about the pain and joy of not belonging, of always being on the outside peering in.”

As far as he is concerned, the “best kind of affirmation” is for his films to remain on the fringes.

“Nawa’y hindi ako maging uso magpakailanman (I hope I will never become the trend forever), and Lucifer forbid it ever becomes fashionable to watch a film that is not by Khavn,” he quips.

On the bright side, he got the chance to meet Dazi, who starred in the acclaimed crime drama, Jacques Audiard’s “Un prophète,” in Switzerland.

“Slimane is a cool, down-to-earth guy,” he relates. “I am looking forward to working with him in the future.”

While “Alipato” is making the rounds of the international film fest circuit, he is laying the groundwork for a new feature film this month.

“It’ll be my homage to Hitchcock and the ’90s, and ‘Mondomanila By Night,’” he notes.

He is also working on “a bunch of short films and two albums (a compilation of Filipino songs dedicated to public transportation drivers and sweet lovers, and an imaginary soundtrack with the Kino-Kontra Orchestra, which is composed of 30-plus musicians).”

He is also preparing for a big installation in Europe, set next year.

“I am writing films, songs, poetry and a new novel. Never stop till the fat lady sits on you,” he said.

“Alipato” had its theatrical release in Germany last month.