Brillante Mendoza bags Best Director award in Malaysia

FILE – Brillante Mendoza waves at the audience. Beside him are actresses Jaclyn Jose and Andi Eigenmann. Contributed photo by David Fabros

Renowned filmmaker Brillante Mendoza won Best Director for his movie “Ma’ Rosa” at the 2017 Malaysia Global Awards.

This is the second Best Director award for Mendoza after he won at the Gijon International Film Festival last November.

“Ma’ Rosa” with lead actress Jaclyn Jose is a story of a mother who runs a convenience store while selling drugs on the side with her husband to make ends meet. She earlier won Best Actress at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The movie also stars Julio Diaz, Baron Geisler, Neil Ryan Sese, Mercedes Cabral, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Jomari Angeles, Felix Roco, Mon Confiado, Maria Isabel Lopez and Andi Eigenmann, Jaclyn Jose’s daughter.

Meanwhile, Philippine-Malaysian collaboration “Singing in Graveyards” was named the best film, featuring Pepe Smith. It is about a Filipino rock star icon as someone impersonating a rock star. It was directed by Bradley Liew.

The winners were chosen by a jury panel chaired by Busan International Film Festival founder Kim DongHo, Chinese filmmaker Xie Fei, Indonesian director Garin Nugroho, Taiwanese producer Yeh JuFeng, Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, and German filmmaker Andreas Dresen.

The Malaysia Golden Global Awards, which was established last year, aims to promote Malaysia and international film productions by recognizing and rewarding excellent film and film makers.